Well put, Kane. But I had to laugh at your description of MySpace. It is anything but democratic.

More importantly, the problem with piracy of this kind is unprecedented in scale and perfection, not in type, and does disproportionately affect the bigger sellers of recorded music. The major labels are probably sticking their fingers in the dyke, but they are entitled to do so. Some of them are doing very well out of revised business models while simultaneously directing attention in the debate to the piracy issue - the old conjurer's trick.

Finally, the lack of revenue from recorded music sales is never compensated by live revenues - that simply goes against the economic grain - and indie bands that might be great are still being denied the opportunity to showcase their best. You cannot excuse piracy as acceptible, no matter how great its inevitability.

Let's pretend for a moment that the music companies are right and file-sharing actually puts an end to all new recorded music.

So what?

We already have far more recorded music in a huge variety of styles than anyone could ever listen to even once in a lifetime. Does it really matter if the music you are listening was recorded last week or twenty years ago if it is new to you? Until you have listened to even one tenth of one per cent of all the music that is currently available, why should you care if anyone makes any more?

There is a reason why the music and publishing industries are desperately peddling novelty; because once we wake up to the fact that there is plenty of good stuff already out there, their revenue streams will dry up. Once we get over our fixation with novelty the price of music and books will drop to a level that represents their real value. File-sharing is just a way to help the process along.

Many of the same companies (eg Sony CBS) that complain about piracy actually manufacture the very equipment and media that makes piracy possible.

It was the same during the cassette era. Were all those tapes bought only for dictation purposes?

Why also, when you've already bought the genuine article, do you have to sit through those annoying DVD ads that remind you not to buy pirated goods?

For us oldies, some of us may have bought a copy (or two) of the original vinyl, then the CD, then the remastered CD, then the remastered CD with bonus tracks.

I'm not excusing the phenomenon, just trying to understand it.

Downloading a copy of a song is not stealing. Theft applies to physical objects where taking it denies access to another. Software can be copied infinitely with (near)zero marginal cost. By downloading I am preventing no-one from anything: in short. I am doing no harm.
The argument of theft relies on the idea of a god given right to revenue opportunity. The potential for revenue is now a lot less because the technology has made the process of recording, copying and distribution *so* much more efficient. Just as cars were bad for folks who looked after horses, the net is bad for people who physically distribute data.
I'll buy stuff from bands, but I do not expect to pay for their marketing material, nor will I buy 10 songs for 1 good one anymore.

BTW. Don't get locked into a physical media for data. It is just not necessary anymore. USB and SD is the current open interface, to store non-DRMed music data files. Like all other data files, *you* the owner have 100% control. Looks like most people have accepted this, except of course the media, politicians and corporate "leaders".

I agree with Jon J. The recording industry is so full of its own self-importance. There was music in people’s lives long before the recording industry and it will continue long after their demise if that happens. They try to threaten us into ‘behaving’ by telling us it will be our fault if the recording industry dies. Are they afraid that they might have to go out and get a proper job?

They have had it too good for too long and maybe their product is not worth what they think it is worth. Perhaps they have been the real thieves by taking people’s hard earned money under false pretences. How often have we wasted money because we believed them when they said their product was worth what they were asking? How often have we shelled out for something that was absolute crap? What recourse have we had to take them to task for the abominable rubbish that is 90 per cent of their industry. They can sue pirates but can the public sue them when they have paid for something that does not do what they should reasonably expect it to do – give listening pleasure. They are their own worst enemies. The complete lack of self-regulation or industry standards has brought about a complete lack of self-respect from the buying public.

Sure, we do not have to buy their stuff but we do so in good faith only to be so often disappointed. We no longer care about their plight because they have never really cared about ours. If the industry folds then too bad – we have plenty of more reputable products to spend our money on.

We have been the ones with the problem and now it is their turn. Chasing pirates will never solve their problem.

Most information is already free.
Duplicating information does not harm the original.
News ,music and LINUX is free,and many more things I don't know about yet.
This computer I am now using was free to me (found it on the street)because it was abandoned,a result of overproduction.
Everything is overproduced in the west yet many people still work 5 days a week.
Soon solid objects will be produced by duplication (in the home)but someone will say this is stealing.
Then food from a duplication machine will allow farms to return to nature.
Some people will not be happy.Some people are never happy.
Free information is just the start,it is not stealing.
Politicians are mostly lawyers and do not understand science.
Waste will be made into something else.
Free everything for everyone.
Vote for me.