There have been considerable discussions on this board and others about the downloading of copyrighted material from the Internet. There seems to be two conflicting views on this subject, one side saying that the additional exposure provides an artist with new listeners and income. The other view claims that illegal downloads take money from the artist because the entire royalty payment scheme has been bypassed. I am on the fence, and believe that a little of both occurs. There are two things that I am thoroughly convinced of however. I am convinced that file sharing in some form or another is here to stay, and I believe the days of putting one good song on a CD and selling it for 13.95 are over. The music industry needs to wake up and realize that they are missing a huge revenue base by not providing alternatives. The consumer has spoken, and they best pay attention. I would happily pay for the Lightfoot rarities if they were available on a sanctioned Gord site. If members of this fine community can make that happen, then surely the likes of Warner Brothers can do it. I think most people understand that excessive downloading of an artists songs is bad for the artist, and after some public education, most folks would do the right thing and pay say 25 cents for a download. I think good money could be made at that price. Folks here are doing it for free. The technology exists, the material exists and the demand exists. I can't understand why the industry doesn't get it.
Sorry for the rant.
Walt
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