Sharing music is easy these days. Downloading music is just a mouse click away. The music “stealing” business probably started with Napster. The communal music haven then felt the wrath of angry musicians whose sales took a hit. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but Kid Rock has gone nuttier than squirrel crap. He is now “encouraging” us to steal.

“The whole debate on downloading music has gone too far,” he said. “There are record companies suing kids. You can illegally download my music, steal it if you will. Because I’m f*#&ing rich. How can I bitch about you downloading a song or two?”

What I would encourage you to do? Let’s level the playing field. Steal everything. If you want a new MP3 player or a computer… Do you know how much money Apple and Microsoft have? Go in there, get a new laptop and run. You need a new car? Go steal a Toyota.”

[All Headline News]

His recent ranting about the fact that iTunes is stealing everyone’s money and he wasn’t getting enough cash from the deal has hit a nerve. He has since pulled his music from the catalogue. And is now an advocate file sharing.

Rock’s boycott of the major music companies started when Atlantic Records requested that he “publicly denounce file sharing.” Rock basically told them to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine and went on to explain his thoughts on the matter.

“ITunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists,” added the country rock rapper. Instead, he says, the internet offers a “great opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money.”

[Wired Listening Post]

Strangely enough…it makes some sense. Of course, I am not saying we should start using the five finger discount, but the digital music industry is still making the larger profit of the musical revenue. I adore Kid Rock and his trashtastic, down to earth and semi-rational ways.

Then again, anything he does is more acceptable than Heidi Montag and her continued ear raping. That’s the real injustice.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Kid Rock performing at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on June 11th. Images thanks to WENN.