Not to make any broad assumptions or anything, but odds are some of you out there have music you didn't actually, you know, pay for. While the internal gnashing of your guilty conscience is undoubtedly punishment enough, now there's a new way to fix up your karma: DearRockers.org asks people to pick a musician whose wares they've illegally sampled and send them a letter of contrition (taking a photo of it for the website first) along with five bucks. (Why five bucks? According to the website, "When you buy songs from the iTunes Music Store, artists make 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. So $5 represents about three albums worth of income for an artist.") Most of the examples posted so far are remarkably crafty (the site's administrator acknowledges that Dear Rockers is a "vague homage to PostSecret") and pretty damn entertaining, like this backhanded mea culpa to Axl Rose:
Dear Axl,
There are a lot of musicians I could have sent this money to; people lke Bob Mould or Henry Rollins or Robert Plant, whose music graced the mix tapes of my youth. But I figured out of all of them, you could probably use the money the most. Some day you will realize two things:
1) Slash was the heart of GnR
2) We all know that Chinese Democracy is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
When that happens, take this five bucks and buy a bottle of Night Train to see you through.
Yours Truly,
michele c.
long island, NY
P.S. I am giving it to you in change because that's how bum wine should be bought.
Sounds like all you people who didn't give Radiohead a damn dime for In Rainbows have an after-school project. Break out the puff paint.
[Thanks to Pop Candy for the tip.]