It seems appropriate at this juncture to point out that I'm supportive of TPB. Not that it should come as a surprise to you, but I seems pertinent to point out that this post is biased. Where I work we have a lot of clients in the music industry, and because of my outspoken support for piracy, I have had a few discussions with people who strongly disagree. I am all for interesting conversation and I love to gain perspective. But I find it extremely hard to sympathize with an industry who's been suckling the teet of infinite wealth for 50 years, waking up one day to find all their money gone, crying rape.

I wholeheartedly support the idea that people should get paid for their work. Of course I do. You do a job, you should get paid for it. But waging a war against TPB is ludicrous at best. The fact of the matter is, they're doing nothing illegal. And let's be clear here, absolutely no facet of TPB's operation can in any way shape or form be perceived as illegal. End of discussion. And if TPB gets shut down for quote "aiding copyright infringement", by another miracle of lobbying I'm sure, we are headed down a dangerous road.

In my opinion what this problem really boils down to is the criminalization of a whole generation. I'll argue that the threshold for becoming a criminal today is at an all-time low. After all the law gets bigger and more incomprehensible every day. And this is all about people. People are copying, uploading, distributing and downloading. Not The Pirate Bay. So the real question should be why are we so unaffected by breaking the law? What happened to our morals? To me this seems more a sociological problem than anything to do with technology.

The beauty (and horror) of the internet is that it's the true face of humanity. There is no internet overlord scrutinizing content. It's democracy in it's purest form. Suing three guys for $100 bazillion dollars isn't going to stop filesharing, it's not even going to make a dent. Because they're not the problem, we are.

So how do I perform when all my material is pre-recorded? Playback is a dirty word for a reason, there's nothing more unsatisfying than seeing your favorite artist and noticing it's lip-sync. I don't want to let people down, but to some extent I have to. I've got no physical equipment bar a microKorg, which by the looks of it is never going to reach me, so I'm basically just triggering songs on my laptop. There is a certain amount of mixing, track sound levels go from old time radio to over-compressed house music, but that's pretty much it. I do have a couple songs that allow me to sing, and I try to play one on every show simply because it adds some actual performance.

But what do I do in between? Short answer; I dance. I dance like I'm having a seizure. Trying to instruct the movement of the audience. Knowing the tracks by heart I can follow each little turn with some degree of precision, and it sometimes feels like I'm conducting. Now if you're thinking I must be a good dancer, you're sorely mistaken. I'm a horrible dancer, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. It seems to inspire others to move. "Hell, if he can dance like a mad man on stage, maybe I should bust some moves as well." There's few things more gratifying than having someone come up to me after a show and tell me they didn't think dancing could be this much fun.

This feeling of conquering social awkwardness inspired parts of Smile. There's a line in the song that goes "Everybody just freeze when my people groove." Something that happens a lot when people who normally never hit the dance floor start going crazy. A group of nerds dancing is a rare sight, and I think it's beautiful on more levels than one. Personally I rarely dance in public, it makes me uncomfortable. But that sense of connection you can get while dancing with other people is sublime. Having just one of those moments where I feel like I'm dancing with the audience really makes a gig for me. And isn't feeling a connection to the artist the very definition of a good concert experience?

I might not play a real instrument, do a bunch of programming on the fly, or twist knobs on my delay pedal, but I do try my very best to make it a night you'll remember. Every time I go on stage there is a strong sense of being on a mission to entertain, and I do acknowledge my part in creating the best possible atmosphere for you to have fun. After all, you're the reason I'm on stage in the first place. Of course I hope to do more out of live performances in the future, but things being as they are, I'd rather dance with you than lie to you.

So enough people are listening to your music to justify an interview, surely nobody would begrudge you being proud? Is it really that important to be cool? And when did pride become a crime? I thought self-confidence was cool. This is all too confusing. Regardless I'm willing to bet $10 this guy listens to his own music. Personally I've always thought my shit smelled great. Albeit blessed with a certain amount of insight, I have kept a lot of it away from the general public. Something I feel grateful for. That's not to say some of the tracks that slipped through the self-censorship barrier didn't stink. A lot.

I have another bone to pick; He's claiming that he won't even listen to it himself, so why should I bother? It's like buying ice cream from people who hate making it. I'd much rather get it from the people so fanatical in their devotion that they have strawberry ice cream for dinner. The music I make is first and foremost for myself. I write songs I like. Writing songs I didn't like wouldn't make any sense at all. "Sup dudes, I'm a rock star. I'm spending half my life making something I don't even like, just because I'm so fucking rad." Christ, what a douche this guy is.

Is there any point to this post? Yes, be proud of your work. Because as long as you're having fun you'll keep at it, and the longer you do the more likely you'll create something truly astonishing one day. Trust me on this, the fun starts dying the second you start worrying too much about what others might think. And you should never stop doing something you love just because you're afraid you might be crap at it. Ask anyone, skill comes with practice. Of course talent doesn't hurt, but the amount required is minuscule compared to the work. And in the words of Gods of Old: Our work is never over.

As an artist, your ultimate goal is more frequently than not reaching people with your work. Traditionally speaking, there's a limited number of major channels for artists to market themselves through, and these channels are controlled by hard currency. If you don't have the budget, you don't get to play. This is nothing new and, some might argue, a form of quality control. If these channels were open to everyone we'd have three hour long free form jazz adventures playing on POP FM, accompanied by sounds reminiscent of animals slowly dying. Which is true, because we get weirder stuff on the internet already.

But let's discuss this notion of quality. I for one can't help but notice that pop music the past few decades has suffered in the hands of people only thinking profit. Compare an array of 70's hit music to the 90's equivalent and you'll catch on fairly quick. Yes, it reeks of popollution. Now don't get me wrong, a business should make money, that much is given. But when the pursuit of higher (and higher) profit margins have resulted in these soulless, bland and branded acts spewing their sixth-grade level lyrics through every major media outlet, warning bells should toll. Sex and violence will always have mass appeal, but I'm of the opinion that music should have more substance than a chorus repeating "I wanna fuck you." So clearly the argument that big business' hold on mass media by that merit benefits us, the consumers, is bunk.

So how's the internet different? Surely it's being controlled in a similar manner? Yes (in some aspects), but more importantly, no. As it has proven again and again, the real power of the internet lies within its inhabitants and not the providers. This shift of power is apparent to anyone who's been online the past decade. People will have their say, and through the power of anonymity, they will voice their opinion on pretty much any subject. If something new is deemed fresh and tasty by enough people, it will spread like an STD in a house full of nymphomaniacs. I myself can't even count the number of great records in my collection I owe to social networking. Records I never would have heard of if it hadn't been for modems, let alone been able to get a hold of.

On to the workhorse of anti-piracy patrons: Piracy is killing music because the artists are not getting paid. Indeed, because the current system is fantastic in that regard (note the seething sarcasm). I'm not going to debate how the old way of doing things is flawed, because there are so many people out there doing a far better job at that than I ever could. But if you honestly believe that online piracy is hurting artists who make a living off their music you should probably read up on the topic. In the interest of getting a point across, I'll sum it up for you: It's not hurting the artists, it's hurting the industry behind the artists. And that is, in my opinion, the beauty of it; Contrary to what they want you to believe, piracy is (if anything) saving music, because it's bringing a corrupt and exploitative machine down to its knees.

The bottom line is this: We need a new system, a transparent one. And straight off the bat there should be a paradigm shift in attitude towards piracy. Fighting this war on piracy is as pointless as a war on terrorism, because (as someone much smarter than me once said) you're fighting the symptoms and not the disease. I firmly believe that if the record industry spent their anti-piracy budget on reducing the price on albums, people would buy more records. And instead of holding anti-piracy campaigns, tell people exactly how much of each record sold benefits the original artist (but they'd better make it a reasonable amount first). You'd be surprised by how willing people are to support the things they love, as long as they don't perceive it as unfair or unwarranted.

I've never charged a dime for any of my music, but thanks to the internet I'm making a fair amount of money through donations and ad revenue. Money I never would have seen if it wasn't for so-called pirates downloading and uploading my music. And most important of all, this is money I can spend with a clear conscience, knowing I never sacrificed my artistic integrity to fit some sort of corporate formula. Now I'm not making a living with my music, and with the status quo I don't think I ever will. But that's not because of pirates, and it never will be. In fact, I salute them; Thank you for spreading my music.