The idiom for the day:

rù xiāng suí sú 入乡随俗 = When in Rome, do as the Romans do

For me that means embracing piracy and actually encouraging downloading and file sharing of my music. I'm sure I'll never make a penny off of any of it (which would be more than some of it's worth actually). I'm letting people zìjǐ dòngshǒu 自己动手 to my songs for free! Why so generous realistic?Here's exactly how it happened:

1. My friend Jason and I wrote a Chinese pop song called "Wǒ Bú Shì Dōngxī 我不是东西" during the October holiday in 2007. We didn't think anyone would care, but the students loved it.
2. I played the song at various shows and events around campus and even recorded a little demo mp3 in my amateur home recording studio.
3. On March 15, 2009 I was interviewed on a Radio Guangdong show called "Voice of the City" during which they asked me about the song and ended up playing the demo mp3 on the radio.
4. The students here at the campus radio station didn't see any reason why a real radio station should play the song and not them, so they played my demo on the campus loudspeakers a few weeks ago.
5. Since then, I've had several students from each class ask if they can please have the song.
6. Some of the readers of my book have expressed disappointment that the "About the Author" section says I've "written a few Chinese pop songs," but they aren't available for download with the audio files.

So to answer these demands, I'm pleased to announce my new music website:

http://music.laowaichinese.net

(also available by clicking "Music" in the menu tabs at the top)

As a bonus (some would say punishment), there are other songs besides "Wǒ Bú Shì Dōngxī 我不是东西" on the site. There are, in fact, three separate albums in process.About half a dozen other songs for the various albums have already been written and will be released in the months ahead.If you'd like to stay up to date on any new music as it gets recorded and released, you can subscribe to the music site in the side bar or by clicking here.Enjoy!