This site was founded on the principle that there are exactly two vital parts to the music industry: the artist and the listener. Everyone else needs to serve one or both of those interests, or get out of the way. To that end, we aim to provide a place where fans and artists can come together without corporate interference and profiteering, while keeping costs low for all parties involved.

While we don't condone piracy, we do recognize that it often stems from valid concerns about the way the music business operates and offers certain advantages to listeners that more conventional models have sadly failed to match. With that in mind, we seek to offer an alternative that is simultaneously fair to artists and accomodating to fans. When you buy an album through HSR, you can rest assured that your payment is sent directly to the band without us siphoning off the profits, and in return you will receive a product that hasn't been crippled by DRM with the artist's blessing to use it as you see fit with only the most limited exceptions.

Undoubtedly, some people will still pirate the music we offer. In fact, the very same distribution methods we use make it trivial for someone to do so directly from this site. While this is regrettable, we don't view it as a problem for two reasons. First, the only true cost of an album being pirated is the loss of a potential sale. Where we feel we've eliminated all of the common justifications for piracy, it's our belief that anyone who still chooses not to pay never represented a potential sale in the first place and would have inevitably found a way to acquire the music without paying for it, whether it was here or elsewhere. Secondly, if the pirate is courteous enough to seed back what they've downloaded, they will actually serve as a valuable part of the distribution mechanism that allows us to keep costs to artists and fans to a minimum, keeping the torrents active and speedy for paying customers.

How do I download an album?
If you're unfamiliar with BitTorrent, this is a good place to start. On each product page below the payment button you will find a link to download a torrent file. Open that file with your preferred bittorrent client and commence downloading. Enjoy!

Can I sample an album before I buy it?
Certainly! Most product pages will include at least one low bitrate mp3 sample. If you'd like to preview the whole album, you can download the torrent before paying. If you decide to keep the tracks, all we ask is that you return and pay for it when you are able to do so.

What can I do with my download?
This is another place where the honor system comes into play. We trust that all of our customers have the best interests of the bands they love at heart, and will act accordingly. The specifics are up to you (exceptions: you may not sell it or attribute it to anyone other than the original artist). Simply enjoy the music yourself, pass it on to friends and direct them back here to purchase it if they like it, seed back longer to buyers to offset any "pirated" copies you make... whatever feels fair to you. The only scenario where we envision taking any further restrictive action is if we find our own tracker overwhelmed with an absurdly disproportionate number of non-paying leechers.

Why use torrents? Direct downloads are so much easier.
We use torrents for two reasons. From a practical perspective, it helps keep overhead low by shifting the burden off of the primary server. We also like the symbolism of making the average consumer an essential part of the process; without listeners seeding, none of this works.

How do I pick the format I want?
If an artist chooses to offer their work in more than one format, each option will be included in a separate folder within the torrent. Most modern bittorrent clients will allow you to selectively download or skip files within a torrent. You are welcome to download any or all of the formats offered.

The torrent isn't working, now what?
There are a number of possible causes. First, check the status page to make sure the tracker is up. If it's down, rest assured that we'll try to get it back up as soon as possible. If it's up, it could be an issue with the way your firewall is configured (useful information here) or the torrent may have died. If it's the latter, please e-mail us at admin@honorsystemrecords.com and we'll either reseed the torrent or provide you with a direct download link.

Can I redownload my purchases?
Most likely. We offer no absolute guarantee of permanent availability, but you are always welcome to rejoin the swarm with your original torrent file or download another copy of it, and if the torrent has died you can contact us and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Do I have to seed?
No. We very much appreciate it if you do, but we understand that there are a number of reasons why you might not be able to (e.g., bandwidth caps). We don't track share ratios and if we ever do it won't be to punish people with low ratios.

What portion of my purchase goes to the artist?
Your payment goes directly to the artist in it's entirety (minus the small, unavoidable PayPal processing fee). With our current system, we couldn't take a cut even if we wanted to.

This is just one person, right? What's the deal with all the plural pronouns?
Good question. Either one of my repressed personalities is trying to tell me something, or I'm a forward-thinking slacker who doesn't want to have to edit everything all over again if this should ever grow beyond a one man operation.



Donations are not something we plan to include as part of our business model going forward. We'd much prefer to find ways to build on what we're doing in a manner that benefits all involved while continuing to provide our core services for free. That said, if you feel strongly that our core services are worth paying for and want to make a donation while we work on new approaches, we certainly appreciate it. There's a donation link on the left-hand side of each page, and if you feel compelled to throw a few bucks our way to help cover hosting and maintenance - after rewarding the artists for the content that keeps you coming here, of course - you'll have our gratitude and our continued devotion to finding ways to making the "music business" more about the former than the latter.



Brendan: Creator, owner, and operator of HSR

We'd also like to offer our thanks to the following people and organizations for their support:
Jay, for creating our banner. Anyone interested in hiring him for graphic design work can contact him at crippledvulture -at- gmail.com
Simple Machine Forums, for providing the open source forum package we use
WordPress Audio Player, for providing the open source flash player we use to stream samples
XBTT, for providing the open source tracker we use
ServInt, for being one of the few reputable hosts willing to consider the notion that there are legitimate uses for torrents. Full disclosure: that is an affiliate link, but it will be removed should we ever stop using or become dissatisfied with their service.



Questions or comments may be sent to: admin@honorsystemrecords.com
You can also contact us via AIM: HonorSysRecords
Or on the forums by sending a PM to user Brendan

If you need to contact us by phone or mail, please e-mail admin@honorsystemrecords.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please note that while we maintain several other addresses for automated mailings, they are not actively monitored. If you need a response to something, please use one of the above methods.