The lost joy of music piracy
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Nostalgic look at music piracy communities like Oink and What.CD and their loss to streaming.
The article profiles Rob Sheridan, Nine Inch Nails' former creative director and a piracy advocate. It traces his path from early file-sharing to his work with the band, which released albums for free on BitTorrent. The piece details the rise and fall of private trackers Oink and What.CD, which offered comprehensive, community-curated music archives. It contrasts these with modern streaming, which Sheridan criticizes for underpaying artists while enriching middlemen.
What commenters are saying
Many commenters still actively pirate music via Soulseek, private trackers like RED, and Bandcamp rips. Some defend piracy as practical, citing streaming's ephemeral nature and artists' poor pay. Others miss What.CD's curation and community. A split exists between those who see piracy as harmless or even supportive of artists and those who frame it as theft. One commenter shares a workplace Music League as a modern discovery alternative.