You know, I’ve been receiving advanced CDs from record labels for close to 15 years and I’ve never even considered putting them on the Web for others to steal. While I have no problem “sampling” existing catalog CDs from the Web and checking out albums from bands I don’t know, I really think it takes the wrong kind of balls for someone to upload a record that hasn’t seen the light of day yet and kill a chunk of a band’s income before they even have a chance to make a dime off of it.

I’m sure I sound like a hypocrite—I’ve stolen my fair share of CDs from the Web, but I always make an effort to support a band I like, be it by purchasing their merch, seeing them live, or buying their records.

This evening, I got an e-mail from my buddy Austin at Epitaph Records fuming that the Alkaline Trio’s new record had been leaked well over a month before it was set to come out. I immediately noted that this wouldn’t be an issue (or as big of one) if labels only sent out vinyl records for review.

He laughed (virtually).
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