Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

I've been using Soulseek for a few years now and it's been awesome with no issues

It should be, because it is on the FMHY megathread, and it's fairly reputable.

Edit: I didn't real the question fully, but I presume that it should be safe if you are cautious as normal. Of course you will be exposed to malware, but it probably will require you to download it before it works.

I would recommend using a modern, open-source client like Nicotine+. Keep in mind the risks of exposing such a service to the internet (like anti-piracy organizations coming after you in some countries). Don't download executables. Make sure your media players are up-to-date.

As someone who used those during their peak, I’m well aware of the risks of getting unwanted stuff, not to mention that you’re fully exposed within the network.

I have been using it behind a vpn and so far never had a problem. I have never had so many "thank you" from any other old school p2p software

First rule of Soulseek....

Bad misquotes aside, it's great. So glad it still exists. Never had a problem, least no problem so far.

While you avoid risky files, like .exe/.cmd/.bat/.vbs etc, you should be safe, in the past Soulseek was known as music source, now it's used also for some other stuff like softwares, books, movies & tv shows.

Using it for mp3 and no concerns.

I don't like it. Most of the time slow downloads, downloads queued infinitely, files are private, or just not available at all in flac (getting mp3 this way is just waste of time)