A response to the guy who told me downloading my music for free is not a loss because it's imaginary money I never had in the first place.

I bring something to the universe that is all my own. Just because you like my talent, doesn't mean I should have to give it to you for free. My music has a set price. If you're taking it without paying, you are stealing my music.

Sure, digital files don't seem as tangible as physically stealing an item from the store, but is it lawful to download company's digital work files without their consent and/or upload them to the internet without consequence? Wouldn't you be "stealing information?" STEALING.

The future that awaits me is a very real END TO THE MUSIC if everyone takes my music for free. Even if I want to just "do it for the love of music" it won't be an option if I have to spend all my time doing some other job to survive. In my precarious case, if I can't be paid for all the work I've done, it absolutely stops any more music from happening. It's not selfish to be compensated for the thousands of dollars spent on equipment and thousands of hours I worked over the past few years to create that music.

Album sales are what I use to feed my family. I'm not a record company, I'm not rolling in money like Gaga, I'm just a real person who spends real time on my real art. If you can look me and my 5 year old son in the eye, reach into my wallet and take out $10, while at the same time telling me you really love my music, you are no fan, you are just a selfish person.

To put it simply, how would you feel if people expected you to work very hard on something FOR FREE forever? How many facebook "likes" would it take before you got resentful that none of those people actually bought the music or gave a shit about how hard you work for THEIR benefit?

Music theft is bleeding the body dry and still expecting the heart to beat.