Chris Carrabba Says Dashboard Confessional ‘Wouldn’t Have a Career’ Without Music Piracy

A spike in music piracy that came as more households around the country logged on to the Internet in the early 2000s changed the game for countless artists

Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba says that his band is one of them, opening up about the time where services like Napster and Kazaa first became popular in NBC News Studios’ My Generation.

“There’s no question Napster affected the record industry and it was a negative effect in a lot of ways, but not for me,” the “Hands Down” singer says.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

“My records came out on a small label. It had limited distribution. If you had found out about my band, there wasn’t any place you could go get my music if you wanted to,” he explains.

“If it hadn’t been for people having had a way to share my music, I wouldn’t have a career of any kind.”

The rise of music piracy happened just as the emo scene, of which Dashboard Confessional is a part, started to experience true growth.

“The emo scene came up from a need to dig deeper inside yourself,” Carrabba says. “Young people, you’re suddenly grappling with a world that is now changed forever.”

The changing world in the early 2000s came with many highs and lows. Learn more about the moments that made millennials, as narrated by Kristen Bell, on My Generation.