I'm not advocating breaking any laws...except these laws are set to protect the already filthy rich (and immorally filthy robber-barons that cloud the music industry) and not the musician. It's quite simple, actually: the music industry makes billions each year by marketing pretty, sexy, and run-of-the-mill sounds. Popular music is just what it is: popular. And that, folks, is it.

Real musicians want their music to be heard, regardless of what they make, Sure, making a living doing their art is a wonderful thing, but take it from a musician who will never see MTV (and never wants to either): I'd rather have my music on WinMx, Bittorent, or [the olde] Napster than on MTV 10 to 1.

Let's look at Carri Underwood: she doesn't write her music, at least not most of it. What she does "write" is twisted, edited, manipulated, and tortured to sound popular and marketable. Her voice is about all she has to her own name anymore. She's been sold out to the masses to be tossed to-and-fro and essentially drown in the fame of her fifteen fleeting minutes. In two years some other new phenomenon with the same feel will ride along and be marketed better, leaving little Carri to rot in the ashes of her once popular music.

We're not talking musicians being robbed here. The real money for all these popular 'musicians' comes from their own ads and endorsements. Tiger Woods makes his money from Nike, not playing golf. Britney Spears make money...God only knows anymore. She sold millions of albums. Whoop-dee-doo.

Ask any trained musician what they call stuff like Britney. They won't answer with the words "good music". But apparently in our rotting capitalist culture, success is measured solely by MONEY.

MONEY.

MONEY.

MONEY.

Why?

Because it's what makes us tick. If you sell 20,000,000,000,000 albums then you must be phenomenal. Or you're a sell out.

P2P, Bittorent, etc., are essentially ways for the normal consumer to get what they want without handing the dollar to the money grubbers that even the government caters to. It's a way to test the product. NOTHING in this country works like the music industry, I mean, even the video industry has movie theatres to test the video before buying, and Blockbuster is there to back it up with rentals after video release. Music, however, has the radio, which just plain SUCKS.

This culture insists that the best is what's popular: presidential candidates, musicians, actors, and even banks. What he have forgotten is the objectivity of what is good. Not all art is good. I would not consider a black line on paper something meritorious of a billion dollars for artistic accomplishment. The same thing goes for music, and nothing says "I'm a black line on paper" better than the billboard top 200.

By downloading music you aren't robbing the musician, at least not the popular ones. And the musicians that truly care about their art are the ones who encourage downloading. Let's face it: good independent artists who are not seeking fame simply want to be heard, free of charge if need be (myself included, numerous peer bands can back this up). Why then are we trying to rally in consumers who are actually helping normal musicians get along? Keeping the money out of the hands of greedy managers is honourable, much like Robin Hood in the modern world.

I use eMusic to do my downloading. It's virtually free, with legal downloads. this doesn't mean I'd not consider downloading some music for absolutely free though, especially since:

1. CD quality is terrible compared to most mp3s.

2. It's cheaper than buying a 12 track Cd for 2 songs, while the 10 remainders are crap.

3. I can select the artists I want without obligating myself to their entire discography.

CDs are dithered down and often only two channel stereo. Mp3s, on the other hand, are getting upwards of 6.1 channels now (if I'm not mistaken). Combine that with a stereo system of comparable quality...and BOOM!

Instant live show in your room.

Who doesn't want that??

Take this example: you go to the grocery store and are looking for lemons. You find a bag that says "you may sample two lemons, and only two before purchase." You decide to go for it, since the two top lemons are great. You get home, however, to find that the last 7 or 8 of them are rotten to the core.

In opposition, the neighboring grocer offers 10 lemons for sampling, all of which you can take or leave FOR FREE. They greet you with a smile and honesty, leaving you with a feeling of accomplishment and happiness.

Now...why doesn't everything work like the music business? Because we'd all figure out how bad it reeks with corruption.

Personal example:

I bought a CD by Staind in 2005. It was their Chapter 5 album, a good one to say the least. I had heard one song entitled "Right Here" on the radio. I decided that since that song was so great, the rest must be great too [a simple conclusion]. I popped the new CD into my Walkman and realised...dear God...it is nothing like I expected, in fact, I'd say it was 50% drivel. The other 50% was at best a 7.5/10.

Did I get ripped off? I feel I did. It's a dishonest system, a way for the rich to reel in the poor and get them to buy something that they don't have a clue about. Imagine if the car you bought BRAND NEW was the same system!

You'd have no brakes, a broken timing belt, a gas valve that leaked, and eventually nothing worth calling a car. And you spent 30,000 dollars...when you could have walked to your neighbhors house and gotten a pre-owned Ferrari for free. Same concept, same scenario...different business.

But it makes sure musicians get the money, after all...right?

Wrong.

If an "artist" [I use this term very loosely] signs a deal with Sony for one million CDs initially sold at 15% commission from each sale (CDs priced at $15) they earned a grand total of 2 million (roughly) out of fifteen million dollars earned. Where did the 13 mil go? a million or so dollars went to production...an the rest went to the company. Who really wins? You decide.

As for me, I don't feel some teenage student who earns minimum wage should have to pay $15 for something as crappy as Britney Spears or Fall Out Boy.

Technology beat the managers, and now the managers are desperately trying to beat millions of people by whining to the powers that be that they are no longer making the billions they used to make.

Maybe if they shared that money with the rest of us we might actually buy some albums...but I doubt it. In the end, I feel strongly that MTV and major record labels have defiled the art of music so much that in the distant future (200 or so years) people will look back and wonder what really happened musically in the 20th century.

We know what Beethoven accomplished...