Conundrum

I’ve been met by a conundrum.  Conundrum, not nice to meet you.

There’s this long out of print EP I’ve been looking for.  It was originally released in 2005 or 2006.  There was a re-release in 2008 by Hyperrealist.  Relapse did a short run of it a few years ago but it was gone before I could get my hands on one.  Now, the only way I can get one is through the secondary market.

The prices I’ve seen for it, when one is available, are in the thirty-five to forty dollar range on eBay.  That seems a little exorbitant for just three tracks coming in at under eighteen minutes.  While I want the EP for completion of my collection, I’m not sure I want to spend that much.  People keep using auction stealers on eBay to snake it from me at the last second.  That leaves me with the alternative option of acquiring it through nefarious means.

I buy the music from bands I like.  Most of them don’t have the largest fan bases and could use the financial support.  Also, because I like what they’re doing, I’d like to pay them to continue to do it.  Generally, these bands are on smaller labels that have been doing a great job of finding regional gems and exposing them to a wider audience.  I’d like to support their efforts too.  So, as you can see, stealing an album wouldn’t be in either my best interest or theirs.

Then again, since I can only buy this through the secondary market, I wouldn’t be taking money from either the band or their label.  Neither offers me an option to purchase it.  I’d only be shorting collectors the opportunity to make money through scarcity. 

So, I’m left here with my own neuroses (that’s neuroses, not Neurosis.  This blog is about Baroness anyway).  First, I don’t want to steal what I can pay for.  Secondly, I’d rather have a hard-copy than only electronic copies of my music.  I don’t want to be at the mercy of changing formats, a bad hard drive, or DRM.

Do I pay the secondary market value for this, or just grab a copy?