Pirate Beirut Aims To Promote Independent Lebanese Artists By Offering Their Music For Free

Think of it as a Pirate Bay for tasteful independent Lebanese music (Mashrou’ Leila, Blend, Meen..etc). The site offers entire albums for free, with a stated aim of generating awareness of indie Lebanese bands.

But aren’t they effectively stealing from those artists by offering their music for free? Not at all they insist:

We’re actually promoting them by distributing their work and making everything more accessible. A direct link between the artist and the consumer is created and we’re confident that this will get more people to go to concerts and see live performances.

You got to give the guys credit for staying clear from the Ragheb Alamas and the Nancy Ajrams of Lebanese music, but by choosing to remain anonymous, they at least concede that what they’re doing lies squarely outside of the law.