Am I a Tool?

Some of you may know that my favorite band is Tool. Unfortunately, you can not find their music on i-tunes. If you go to their concerts, there are strict rules about video or audio recording their performances. Of course, this does not stop some people from posting mediocre videos taken by their cell phones. The venues can't stop you from bringing your cell phone into a concert.

I saw Tool at the Gwinnett Arena about 2 years ago. My friends informed me that I might as well leave my camera in the car because security would not allow it in. Indeed, we were given a serious pat down at the gate. With or without my camera, I will never forget that concert. I quickly became obsessed with this progressive rock band. Since this amazing concert, I have bought all but one of their CDs and two of their DVDs. It was crazy to actually go in a Best Buy and purchase hard copies of music and videos. With i-tunes and the internet, I have been spoiled by downloading whenever I want. In Chapter 2, Condry has been able to identify a range of reasons why people might voluntarily choose to pay for certain content to support a favorite group or increase the viability of marginalized genres of music. I some-what fall into this category. While I was willing to purchase whatever Tool CDs that Best Buy had to offer, there was one album that I could not find. Needless to say, I was informed of a Russian download site that had all of the Tool that I could want. My loyalty to the band could not outweigh my desire to purchase instant, cheap downloads of their first album.

Tool describes their concerts as an experience and does not want any videos or photos to represent what should be experienced live. I have to admit that I have shared many Tool videos on facebook. I love the band so much that I want to share with all of my friends their musical genius. Does this make me less of a fan since I am sharing videos that are not authorized by the band? Am I a hypocrite for sharing exactly what Tool does not want? Nonetheless, I will continue to post their amazing music on my page because I feel that their songs are a reflection of me. I also want to share what I had been missing for a long time. Before the Tool concert, I had only heard what was on the radio and wish that their music had been more available to me prior to my newfound obsession. Enjoy!