1. Do you feel like you are entitled to free music? If you do, why? If you don't, why not?
Not FREE music per se, but digital music. It pisses me off that the industry has not 100% gotten behind digital music and Japan keeps people outside the country from buying it. I don't want to jump through a bunch of damn hoops just to PAY for music I want to download. Main reason I download, because these idiots won't make their music available for me to purchase. Their loss. *le shrug*
2. How do you feel about people refusing to share their music because they want to support the band?
It sounds self-righteous tbh. Personally I share music, if it's not already in a million places, so that other people will get to listen to something I obviously like enough to go out of my way to acquire. Not sure if your one CD that you won't share is better than exposure to hundreds that might end up in several CD purchases at the very least. But hey, do whatever you want if it massages your ego.
3. In relation to the second question, what do you think of people who tell others not to share something they themselves paid money for as they think its content is exclusively for those who paid for it?
Lol, I'd tell them where to stuff it. If I want to share it, I will. You can sit on your precious CD all you want, but you won't tell me what to do with mine.
4. Do you think entitlement to free music is worse in visual kei than in other communities?
I guess it's the fandom I've been in the longest, so yes, definitely. They all say they're not entitled, yet they bitch and whine when things aren't shared to their standards. So what I think they think they're entitled to is a certain template for free music to be shared in. If you complain about the format of free music, you're entitled, period.
5. How do you feel about people who deliberately share releases in low bitrates to encourage you to buy the CD? Do you think that if someone does decide to share, you're entitled to the highest rip?
Again, self-righteous. Slacktivist attitude, thinking that you can do something so simple and lame and it will change people's opinions or actions. If people aren't gonna buy it, they aren't gonna buy it. I won't personally complain, because complaining about free music is stupid, but I won't buy it either. I have more important things to worry about than whether I have music in 128 or 320. And for me personally, I'm not going to specially rip a 128 to share when I'd need to rip a 320 for my own library. Extra work for no reason.
6. Have you ever been approached by people, either on Monochrome Heaven or last.fm, who wanted you to share something? If you didn't want to share, how did they react? What did you think of their reaction?
Yes, I usually just ignore them. They can react however, I don't give a crap. Most of the time it's probably not that I don't want to share, but that I don't have the time or whatever to go through all the zipping and uploading crap.
Additional thing about credit. I don't care about that either. Biggest reason I uploaded Hilcrhyme's FIVE ZERO ONE on JPS was because there was a huge-ass bounty on it lol. Don't care that it showed up on aichuun the next day and my handle wasn't attached to it. Internet kudos are for losers.
In conclusion, people who have too much time for fandom on the Internet inevitably complain like their petty concerns are actually important. Just share and listen to the music and shut up.