Last Thursday, one of my favorite bands Underoath announced its farewell tour dates.

This was extremely upsetting for me, as I used to love them in middle school. Their album “Define the Great Line” was pretty much my entire eighth grade year.

I realized that a lot of bands like this are breaking up and announcing their farewell dates, and bands are constantly changing members all the time.

For example, I used to listen to Sky Eats Airplane when I was in ninth grade, but they broke up after releasing only two albums, and their lead singer Jerry Roush has been all over the place since then.

Since hearing about Underoath’s breakup, I vowed to start buying all of my music to support the bands that I love. So today I went and bought my first album in probably four years, In Fear and Faith’s self-titled album.

At first, I was tempted to go on Pirate Bay and download the album as soon as I heard it, but instead I waited until today to buy it with my own money to support In Fear and Faith.

These bands tour the country, and often outside of the country, going days without showering, weeks without getting a haircut and months without getting a real meal. It is nothing less than unfair for me to then not pay for these bands’ music after they go out night-in and night-out playing for hundreds of fans at venues ranging from some as large as Meriwether Post Pavilion to some as small as the Recher Theatre.

I would much rather spend $12 helping support these bands than going to Potbelly’s for lunch.

Granted not every single cent goes to the artists when I get the album from Best Buy or Hot Topic, but I still like the sale to reflect in their numbers, and I know that the band is at least getting some of the money.

My goal to buy more music hit even harder when I talked to Miss May I’s lead singer Levi Benton on Friday for the Q & A I did with him.
Levi couldn’t have been nicer, despite the fact that he knew he wouldn’t be home for months, going on the AP Tour. I will be the first to admit that I never bought a single one of Miss May I’s album.

I bought one of their t-shirts at Warped Tour, but I never once spent any money on their music that they put so much hard work into. I encourage you to spend more money on music. It can be costly, but if you want music, then buy music. If people stopped buying music, then no more music.