[blankslate]

And thirdly, and probably most importantly, because piracy is so convenient it's usually my first port of call when I'm wondering what an artist sounds like. I can spend less than a minute typing a search into $COOL_PRIVATE_TRACKER, and in a few minutes be listening to high quality mp3's in my choice of media player.

It's only after I actually decide that I like (and will ever listen to) the music that I would wish to give some money to the artist.