Digby Pearson of Earache leaks Burzum's album Belus

Now this is interesting. I just read on the Invisible Oranges Blog that Earache Records founder/head Digby Pearson posted a link to a leak of Burzum’s new album “Belus” on his Twitter page this past Friday. For the uninformed Earache records has been home to many grind/death legends including Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower and has been publicly condemned by many for his supposed shady business practices and all around douchebaggery. Burzum (aka Varg Vikernes) is an admitted racist and convicted arsonist and murderer and was a member of the pioneering black metal band Mayhem. Varg Vikernes went to jail for murdering Mayhem co-founder Euronymous. In this post on the Ask Earache blog Digby recounts his first meeting with Varg.

When I checked again today it seems that this post was wisely removed from Digby’s Twitter page. This debacle raises some interesting questions on morality and its extremes and the dangers of sharing too much on Twitter and other social media networks (check out this Allhiphop article on how Twitter can end your career.) On one hand you can’t deny that accusations of Digby being a jerk & horrible business partner are nothing compared to Varg’s sins, but does that justify a prominent label head posting a link to download an album not on his label? He could have voiced his opinion without posting a link to the album, and it isn’t his place to “punish” Varg. As bad a person as Varg Vikernes is he’s paid his debt to society in his country’s eyes, and instead of merely speaking against this man Digby inadvertently advocated illegal filesharing as well. Not too smart for someone who makes a living selling music.

I remember reading Napalm Death singer Barney Greenway’s accounts of Digby Pearson’s bad business practices in the book “Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore” and it’s been widely known that he isn’t alone in his view of the Earache label head. My official stance is I condemn both men’s above-mentioned actions, but I’d like to know what ya’ll think. Does the severity of Burzum's crimes and racist views justify the actions of Digby Pearson? What about your views of filesharing in general? I would think that even the people that illegally download music can see that it's inherently wrong. Feel free to discuss and comment, and check out these links to more people that hate Digby:


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