When I was younger I never really felt guilty about pirating music because I didn't have the ability to buy anything over the internet, lacking a debit card, and having little income to buy albums from HMV etc.

So when I started growing up and had some money hanging around, I started buying a few albums. In my head it's around £11-16 for an album and I could afford a few, but my current music collection is a few hundred artists and their works. When I talk to my friends about music there's a constant "Have you heard X? I stopped listening to Y a while back, now I listen to Z who are kinda like if A and B had a child who grew up with C" - I feel expected to be aware of a great deal of music as if what I listened to and what I enjoyed reflected on me as a person.

No offence to artists, but I can't exactly afford that at any point. I'm expected to be aware of several hundred artists and buying one album of each artists means I need to spend several thousand pounds which keeps growing year on year. The fight was always going to be black and white; you pay for everything with minor exceptions or you pay for nothing with minor exceptions and I can't afford the first category.

In my room at the moment I have two physical albums which I bought because I love the artist and can't go see them. One of my favourite rappers; Scroobius Pip, I go see every year he comes to my city and I've considered going to his other shows in London. It's becoming difficult however to decide who I support and where. Do I buy the album of the indie band because they have less income and does that mean I don't morally have to buy the album of the megaband because they earn so much already?

Music purchase doesn't seem to be a trade that way; it's charity. Google Play/Spotify aren't selling music, they're selling convenience. That's why they don't care how much they pay the artist.