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RE: Intellectual property just doesn't work anymore
I have always been fond of a technique I call the "vigilante purchase." Evading the middleman to contribute directly to the artist's pocket, then "pirating" the work. It's not always possible, especially with big mainstream artists where all revenue is channeled through their record label or production company or what-have-you, but you can usually find some way to do it with the smaller folks... and they're the ones I typically care about supporting anyway.
I have some sympathy for artists who attempt to sell their work directly, and I have no problem supporting them. However, I have zero respect for companies who seek to profit from gatekeeping as their sole "contribution" to society. If I can help it, they get not a penny from me.
I have no respect for the majority of the shitty companies out there in the artist space...the record companies making a fuckton off artists that dream of making it big and end up warping their art to fit what they say people want for example...but there could be some that are alright and are just doing a job. Tons of writers out there get paid up front for books that the publishing companies basically bet on, playing the long game, and they pay the bills for actually publishing them and pushing them to book stores and setting up signings and such. Hypothetically there might be some in the record industry that do the same...but these days, almost everyone's a crook.