SMRPG released more than twenty years ago. Nintendo isnt planning to sell its OST, thats a game that has barely been referenced after it was made. DKC2, Perfect Dark, Super Mario World, etc. They were all released decades ago and the idea that Nintendo will just sell them again someday is wishful thinking at best.
Tell me then, if people want to listen to the Paper Mario soundtrack or to any game that was made before 2010 and that doesnt have its soundtrack available for purchase (which is most of them), what should they do?
Ok, its their content. Ok, entitlement. Tell me, people want to enjoy the art that they like, what should they do?
The answer is that they should listen to other music. Music that is distributed legitimately.
I don't subscribe to that belief, but it's the answer you will be told. I mean, imagine you made a short film. It plays at a couple film festivals, but you opt not to sell it to consumers for whatever reason. Now, fans of your work distribute pirated copies of that short film amongst themselves freely. You say, "Hey, stop stealing my shit." They say, "But we can't buy it! What should we do?" I mean, you're under no obligation to sell it to them. That's a silly argument, right? But the fact that this thread hasn't been closed outright for "advocating piracy" should tell you right away that this isn't quite that simple. People can wave their fingers at what they perceive to be entitlement, but we're participating in an industry that lately revolves around livestreaming. Nintendo was vehemently opposed to this, but finally came around (kicking and screaming.) They were well within their rights to pursue litigation against those distributing VOD content and the like. But eventually, they realized what people are saying in this thread -- that it is a free promotional tool and that it does not devalue their products. If they don't want to bother untangling the rights to distribute their music digitally, so be it. But they are actively leaving money on the table and everyone knows it. They'll come around eventually.
Now, brass tacks, I think if you bought the game, you can do whatever the hell you want with the music included therein (short of distributing it), and obtain it through whatever means are available to you. It's part of the item you own. You own it. The law in most jurisdictions does not agree with me on this issue, however. Which is, frankly, fucking stupid. But whatever.
