With the recent court rulings sparing Morpheus, the industry is abuzz with talk of file sharing again. This notable article surveys the scene, with two key points that popped out at me.Someone correct me if I am statistically wrong — if about half of kids aged 12-17 downloaded files, and half of the downloaders say they *did* buy a CD, it sounds to me like 25% of the survey respondents bought CDs. One in four kids bought a CD recently. Lars Ulrich is not greedy. But he is one of the rare few major label artists who benefits greatly from CD sales. I think he has everyone’s best interests at heart, really. But if he’s concerned about the baby bands on a major label that get dropped because they don’t break huge “in the first five minutes,” he should redirect his frustration at the label system itself and not the file sharers.For emerging artists, sampling is crucial. The only way you can reach a new audience is to get your existing audience to talk about you. If they’re sharing your music, even better. As an artist, you always have the right to dictate what should be done with your work. But it’s a savvy choice to let your fans use your own music to spread your virus.
Here we go again…
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