To be clear..

1) I love Bishop Allen's "old" music
2) I love Bishop Allen's "new" music
3) I have bought *every* single Bishop Allen CD/EP available
4) I do *not* have specific preferences between different versions of their songs
5) I solemnly promise to only use *released* material when telling people about the band

So..

Having said all that, I understand the band (and some fans) have all these mp3s running around of their music and I'm not supposed to hear any of it.

I understand that I couldn't expect some normal band to send me every mp3 they've recorded (though BA is obviously not a normal band, the EP Project and this board clearly demonstrate that), but I'm not asking for them to send me anything - I just want to know why they forbid other people from giving it to me?

Seems like it would be reasonable for diehard fans to trade music around, especially after they've paid for everything the band has made available.

I'm a big fan of Ani DiFranco, for example, and I've purchased every CD she's ever created, and I have a bunch of bootleg Ani mp3s as well, and I'd be awfully surprised if she ever asked her diehard fans to lay off the bootlegs.

So...

Would it be so awful if we had access to this music? For historical reasons, if nothing else.