Forgive me if I've misunderstood the question - I'm old and techi stuff gets me ?
?I assume you're referring to illegal downloading of albums, as opposed to the ones you can buy at specific sites? ?In that case, and although I claim no knowledge of the workings of the mind of Axl Rose, I would imagine that he'd consider it theft of his work in exactly the same way as it would be if you walked into a record shop and walked out with the CD under your coat.
Terry Pratchett (genius of the written word and creator of the Discworld) says it succinctly in his response to interviewers asking how he feels about illegal copies of his work being available online:
"It's not so much the theft that annoys me as the justification of the theft. ?I'm annoyed to be told by arrogant people that 'information longs to be free'. ?I reply that, in that case, maybe they would like to 'free' their bank account details and shunt them in my direction!...
...I suspect that a lot of people who have copies of my books online are actually fans, and also have a hard copy on the shelf.? Fandom itself is a sort of socially acceptable piracy."
Obviously I agree with this (or wouldn't be quoting it!) and I guess many would consider it an old-fashioned view.? I don't like downloads anyway, even when legal, and shudder to think that there may come a day when I'm unable to get a tangible product, be it CD or vinyl, from my favourite artist.
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