Why Are King Gizzard Helping To Pirate Their Own Music?

We all know that Melbourne psych army King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are one of Australia’s most prolific bands, having unveiled their sixth album, the ambitious Quarters, earlier this year to a warm reception from fans and critics alike.

It means there’s a lot to take in if you’re looking to introduce yourself to this acclaimed local group, so the band have decided to make things a little easier for newcomers by sharing a BitTorrent link to their entire discography on their Facebook page.

“Hello friends, found this,” the band wrote on Facebook, sharing a link to infamous torrent directory The Pirate Bay, which just so happens to be hosting a torrent file containing all of the band’s albums to date, including Quarters.

Taking a look at the profile of the uploader, shaunskie, it’s unlikely the torrent was authorised by the band, as shaunskie has also uploaded other Australian albums, including releases by Pond, as well as the discography of Mac DeMarco (we suggest you DO NOT download it).

However, seeing as they dropped the link to their own torrent file on their official Facebook page, it seems they’re not too miffed about fans getting their music by any means necessary. After all, the government’s new internet filter could soon see the end of torrent sites altogether.

So why are King Gizzard effectively helping to pirate their own music? Well, we can only speculate, but maybe they’re just interested in getting their out there and heard and relying on their awesome merch and steady stream of live shows for revenue. It’s a gamble, but it is their music, after all.

On another note, we’ve been so impressed with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s work lately, we couldn’t look past them when deciding on who to feature in our countdown of The Aussie Musicians Who’ve Been Killing It So Far In 2015.

In addition to unveiling yet another album, they decided to celebrate the release of Quarters by staging their own touring festival before quickly making for the airport to get overseas and play a raft of dates, including a spot at Glastonbury.

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