Free music, that’s what it’s all about. Well, nowadays that may be the case, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about it. You have options.

In a recent interview, James Murdoch, News Corporation Chief of Europe and Asia, slammed the youth of today for their persistence in illegal downloading, stating “they’re not crazy kids, no. Punish them.”

78 million singles were sold in the UK in 1997; last year, it was just 8.6m. This shows that at least an estimated half of the population engaged in illegal downloading. Not only is this costing the artists but it’s costing the people behind the scenes. Reportedly, 39,000 British jobs were lost to the illegal activity as well as a total monetary loss of 1.4bn.

Now that, to me, is quite simply ridiculous. What happened to the days of saving up your pocket money to buy your favourite new album? It’s not as if they’re even as expensive as they used to be. Some albums you can get from iTunes for anything as little as £4.99, and that’s for a new release.

My suggestion? If you love music that much that you need the latest copy of the album before anyone else and so download a leaked, slightly dodgy and muffled copy, then review the music. Reviewing music can be great to build up your CD collection as well as getting to hear the best new music before anyone of your friends. Contact music websites, pr companies, anyone involved in the industry, and as long as you can write some decent reviews, you’ll be on your way to free, new music in no time at all.

Words: Adam Mallaby