I got to thinking about this because of the Ghey Mix thread.

Do you ever buy a CD, not because you expect you'll like it all that much, but just to support a charity, a local scene, a friend's band? (I'm defining "ideological reasons" very broadly here.)

In my case, I won't say I'll buy a CD just because an artist is gay, but if I think something sounds musically interesting and the artist happens to be gay, I'll often pick that one over a similar straight artist. It's probably a case of trying to support the home team combined with liberal guilt for not being a good enough homo.

Even the gay artists I'm really into (Hello! Dozens of Dusty Springfield records!) I didn't get into because they were gay (Hello yourself, Mary! I buy them for the musical value, not the camp value!).

I will admit to being shallow enough to buy a PETA-sponsored compilation because I liked the artists, even though I would never contribute to PETA otherwise.

If I had a point, this is where I would make it.

I bought two CDs because they were by my guitar teacher's teacher.

Masturbatory shredding.

I bought a comp put out by them Free the West Memphis Three guys, but generally no. Then again, I don't mesh politically with very many musicians. Or humans.

despite my hatred for rush, i bought 2112 simply because it was based on atlas shrugged. but that was more out of curiousity than support of an ideology. i still haven't brought myself to actually listen to it

sometimes if i go to a local or small show, and the band isn't my favorite or even something i think i'll ever listen to again, but they played their hearts out and i can tell they work their asses off and they seem like good people, i'll buy a CD.

I've bought nearly all of the various Obners' cd's.

i've bought a couple. all good. still waiting on the next paper airplane pilots.

I buy most of my cd's used online...I had a used copy of I Believe To My Soul in my shopping cart recently until I realized that the amount I saving by buying it used was exactly the amount that was to go to the Red Cross's New ORleans Fund. Got the guilt and went and bought it new at Starbuck's instead.

But generally, I won't buy anything just because its supporting a good cause, I need to have some interest in it to begin with. The opposite is very true though..I absolutely won't buy something if I oppose the cause unless I can find it used and know none of my $ are going to the cause...even then I'll usually talk myself out of buying it on the grounds that someone else who would have bought the used copy might buy a new one and cause funds to go to the cause that might otherwise not.

I've bought a handful from friends' bands and a couple from members on here just because. I guess out of curiosity or wanting to support them.

I think almost all of them I've ended up trying to sell back to a used cd store in town after listening to them twice. I'm going to try to stop buying stuff without hearing it first.

Fuck no. I might get an album despite ideological differences with the band, but never because of...(that PETA benefit album that Skinny Puppy was on is a good example).

I mean, if I eschewed every single album by a gay, religious person, or even a playa-hata, I'd have to get rid of over half my collection.

I bought a CD from a guy who was playing his heart out on the boardwalk over the summer. He was actually pretty good and I felt sorry for him being that hardly anyone was paying attention.

I did a similar thing up in Mystic, CT about 3 years ago.

Buy independent, buy local, and buy from bands that have made the trip to visit me in my city. These are some ideological criteria.

I bought the Dixie Chicks CD after all the backlash about their anti-Bush comments and the war.

I had already heard good things about them and liked the couple of songs that I heard, so it was the perfect excuse to but something and show my support for them.

I bought Home and about half of it is really very good. The other half... meh. But I'm glad that I got it.