You get nothin for nothin if that's what you do

For what it's worth, I agree with Matthew more than I do the rest of the people on the site regarding music downloading and digital rights management. Downloading copyrighted works is by definition illegal as is sharing them over peer to peer networks. The point is inarguable. Unfortunately for Matthew, it's also irrelevant.

In the midst of a riot at the shopping mall you'll see few people lining up at the register. Even people that have always been law abiding and honest tend to find themselves caught up in the panic and excitement of free TVs. The problem for the record industry and for studio musicians like Matthew is that there might not ever be a way to stop the peer to peer riot and consumers (like me) just don't want to be the last dope standing online at the register as the hordes go screaming past with their free cds. Pleading group think isn't much of a defense, but it's all I've got. Matthew, the only solace I can offer to you is the assurance that when I go looting through the aisles I won't be picking up any classical music.

Unfortunately peer to peer is likely to be added to the list of technological advances that put musicians out of work by the thousands. First the invention of the talkie put movie theater musicians out on the street, then the widespread use of vinyl records put radio musicians out on the streets. There is some chance that, as Tripp hopes, new legal distribution methods will provide a new model for performers and composers to thrive in the growth of the digital age (I doubt it). Such a development would not be entirely without precedent. While the adoption of records over radio was disastrous for musicians it eventually proved to be a godsend for composers, even if they didn't know it at the time.

As a sidebar I read through the Steve Albini article that John talked about and it fascinated me that so much of the stuff that record companies milk out of bands seems unnecessary in the digital age. Does the average rock band even need to go into the studio anymore? Why not just buy Pro Tools or (gasp!) download it for free off the internet, record the vocals in the bathroom, and save yourself $52,500? Drum Amp, Mic and Phase "Doctors" for $3000? Buy yourself a little meter at Radio Shack for $30 and do it your damn self. You can also save yourself at least part of the $10,000 lodging while in studio expenses as well. I'll grant you that it will pay to pick up the fee and hotel for a talented producer and mixer. But $3,000 on catering? Please. Bring a fucking sandwhich.

The real kicker is that half these bands that go through all this horseshit bend over backwards to make their albums sound like shit anyway. Even (honest) people who love the Strokes, the White Stripes, and their armies of imitators will tell you that half of the novelty is that it sounds like they recorded it in their garage.