What Nine Inch Nails is doing, is giving you the right product immediately (I purchased the Deluxe Edition, had issues with the download link, so I just found a torrent for it. However, I still purchased it, like many did as well). While having a voluntary contribution link seems like a good idea, its also begging. Artists really shouldn’t have to peddle their art on a street corner (Yes. The Van Gogh’s of the world did have to do this. Again, they shouldn’t have had to).

I think too many people forget the real costs of what they do on the internet. The internet is not free. Not everyone is out there creating free products for the service of everyone. We pay a fee to get on (or someone pays a fee, if you steal your internet) the internet, and people post a fee to create websites on said internet. That’s how it works. This is not a free institution. I’m not saying I am not a thief in many aspects, but I don’t believe I have ever stolen something I was in the realm to afford.

Patronage collected by the government for redistribution to artists has been tried before in some places that ended up running as personality cults. No, we can do without such ideas.

Thanks and good work.