I am the registered owner of copyrighted works please remove posting. thanks

do what the man says for fuck sakes

It is nice to get some exposure, but you know… we are all poor, struggling musicians. Tristza has never gotten many breaks from the over-saturated music world. We’ve done our thing the way we do it since 1997, and have given away many albums and cd’s for free out of love. We understand that people need music for life, for love, and for help in tough times, etc. Our music is good for many things, and its the creative outlet that is our bands sole purpose at this point.

However, It becomes impossible to even go on tour, when we all have children and other lives outside of Tristeza, and we haven’t made any profit from any record that was released since the year 2003. Its a sad, sad state when a band cannot afford to go on tour and bring our music to the people who need, because all the $ we put into our albums is lost. Album after album… It is the worst feeling in the world so think, “Fuck, we can’t even go on tour.” The guarantees become less and less every year. The cost of travel increases every year.

We have a lot of faith in our fans, our new album, and we hope people will enjoy the music we’ve made this year. Pleasde support Tristeza the responsible way if you can. Please spread the word, and encourage your friends to support us and consider the side of the picture that we see and have to deal with. We appreciate any exposure in reality, and for free or for $, we’re still gong to do our thing. Thank you all! -James Lehner/drummer for Tristeza.

Hey James.

That was pretty rough, but honest. Ya man I’ve pirated all of your stuff. I don’t really feel good about it (especially because you guys are so awesome). On the other hand, and I’m not trying to justify my piracy but, I’ve turned about 50 of my friends onto Tristeza…Most of them have bought your music. A few of them have seen you live. I know it’s a dual-edged sword…I know you don’t deserve to have your music pirated…

Make t-shirts, I’ll buy ten and re-sell them to my friends for a markup :)

Great new album.

Merry Xmas

p.s. I can’t help but ask- how’d you come across nodata? I must say if you’re on nodata then you’re probably guilty of downloading other people’s stuff for free…

In this day and age, you’d be hard pressed to find one band who makes one red cent off of a recording anymore. Not that that’s good or bad, it’s just a fact. Unfortunately, recordings are done for art’s sake (unless you can get a song in a commercial), and touring w/ tons o’ merch is the only way to make $$$. That being said, how is the band paying anything for a recording? There has to be plenty of labels who would love to do a Tristeza record and would be happy to pay for its recording/production. Cheers!

Thanks for writing, Christopher. Your music is much appreciated, and I will look into buying the 12″ online. Cheers!

the discourse in this thread is wonderful. i don’t think this kind of dialogue happens enough (or at least i have not seen it – especially in a comments section for a download)

for my part, i’ll say that i discovered Tristeza through sites like this. i would not have heard this music otherwise.(i do not have enough bandwidth to stream music & have to be choosy about when & where i can D-load anything)
I moved from an urban center to an extremely remote canyon backcountry town & have limited access – crappy bandwidth internet, basically – when it comes to discovering new music.
i always have a tough decision to make when it comes to buying music. being in the middle of nowhere, my income is LOW – VERY low, and seasonal.
I am a musician myself, and have posted my own fair share of free music online (my own, that is). when it comes to my finances, i have a decision to make in terms of investing in other people’s music, or investing in my own projects.
the thought of having to do without any new music due to the simple fact that i cannot afford to buy it and fund my own projects at the same time is troubling. if i only allowed myself to purchase new music and not use sites such as this to hear what else is out there, i would not have any cultural reference or inspiration from others, i would be living in a vacuum. (because i would choose to invest in my own projects – so i would hear no new music)

what i would really love to see is some sort of option of an ‘honor system’ – if i download music for free and really dig it, i would gladly give what i could DIRECTLY TO THE ARTISTS when i can.(something like a paypal donation button on a band’s website would work for this – or a po box to send $ to)
i think this would also up the ante in terms of QUALITY of music, cus no one wants to pay for a shoddy album.

I’m also a visual artist (painter) so i more than understand the kind of resources that have to be invested in creativity.
the cost can be much more than people realize. sometimes i have to choose a Beans & rice diet just so i can afford canvas & paints.

to Tristeza and every other artist out there – more power to you and may we find some sort of equitable situation for all of us.

Hmm… not that I want to justify myself, but I’m only here because I bought the LP (gorgeous brown marble!) and was a little surprised not to find a download code.
So here I am downloading this here.

I also make music, and I definitely understand the frustration the guys from the band have expressed. I think people who download music illegally mostly kid themselves thinking it’s fine and doesn’t make a difference, or think it’s fine to do so as long as you’re turning friends into the band. Honestly, I don’t know…

But anyway, thanks for everyone for keeping this music alive, and mostly, I would like to send my gratitude and respect to Tristeza for still being an awesome band. Thank you so much! Your sounds mean a lot.
(one little question though… what was “fate unfolds” about, really? I tried buying an LP at some point but no one would reply / send it to me)

I was able to download the thing. I’m wondering what reasons the owner of this blog may have not to respect the wish of those who brought him or her these sounds in the first place. What gives, world?

i am so thankful i wound up here and read all of this and streamed the music from the band’s website. tomorrow i am going to the only record store in my forsaken town to have them order this. i didn’t even know this album existed until an hour ago. i am one of those who pirates but buys vinyl and goes to shows. after reading what christopher and james wrote i found it difficult to justify my pirating tendencies. after children were mentioned i could only recognize how selfish my relationship with music is when it comes to pirating. for real, i’m caught in an evolving state right now. this whole experience has been an epiphany for me…