Someone asked me if they could listen to my CD today. "Yay" you're thinking. Me, too. However, when the next question was "Can I burn it?" I was a bit taken aback. My automatic response was "No," to which she replied "Well I was doing the polite thing by asking. I'll just burn it and not tell you now."

We discussed it a bit further - I offered her the whole lecture about piracy; (it was an offer, too, I didn't just lecture her) but this was declined as she wasn't funding street gangs or international terrorism, or doing it to on-sell and make a profit.

I was intrigued. Also a bit concerned as to how to make my point without alienating a day-job colleague... I did make the point that she wasn't stealing from major corporations (to which she laughed and said no, she wasn't) and I said "no, you're taking it from me". Hopefully she got the idea. I did give her a copy of the CD to listen to - and said the usual, "if you like it, bring cash, if not, let me know, I'll give you 5 more, they make attractive coasters" :-) Hopefully the point was gently made.

Afterwards I was still thinking (and still am, obviously) about why it was okay to ask the artist herself if you can burn a copy of their CD, which they are offering for sale? I mean, there are obviously some exceptions - special bonus discs which are no longer available and you can't even find on ebay for one (and if I do find it somewhere, I'll buy a legit copy if I can) but really, what's the idea here?

Is the whole idea of art as a product so alien to the general populace that it really doesn't mean anything? I've had huge arguments with colleagues (I'm sure others of you have, too) about this - I've tried to point out how much it costs to make a quality CD, and that by not paying anything at all for it, you're stealing from that artist.

Notwithstanding the whole 'major corporations' argument (and is it okay to steal from big companies?) why is it acceptable for someone to burn a disc for their own use and not pay for it? I don't mind if they buy the disc and then burn it onto their PC for easier listening - I don't have an objection if they buy the disc and burn a copy to keep in their car in case of theft. No problem. But borrowing and burning and then returning it?

I've even heard the "you know you're successful when somebody pirates your stuff" argument. Even the amazing statement "I didn't copy it, I just downloaded it onto my PC... you can have the disc back now."

I'm at a loss and don't seem to understand this - the only thing I can think is that art is not regarded as a commercial product, it's not a saleable commodity.

The various commercials and public announcements are doing some good, obviously, there is some idea out there as to what the major pirating gangs are doing, but on the small, personalised scale of the independent artist, who isn't yet popular enough to be targetted by them, it's still a personal issue. I realise that this isn't a personal attack of "I don't think your work is worth my money," but down at base level, this IS what I heard. I realise that isn't what she meant to say, and if I'd asked her that very question, she'd have denied that, thought about what she was doing, and I'd probably have damaged my working relationship with her.

I've taken the only course I could think of - let her listen (I'm not high rotation on radio just yet! :-p) and let her know what my expectations are; not back down on my principles.

Is there a better way to deal with this situation? Is there a way to let the public know that sometimes the artist isn't a multi-zillionaire who can afford the loss of revenue... sometimes it's someone who's trying to make their dreams reality while they're doing their day-job to pay the bills...