The business model needs to move on
The business model for artists and bands vs. record companies is changing for the better. I regularly download stuff over P2P and also regularly buy stuff. If I want piece of music badly enough, I'll pay for it. If I just want to know what it sounds like, I'll download it, if I like it, I'll generally buy it.
Two cases in point:
Downloaded the Mika album to see what the fuss was about - utter shite - shared it up to 1.0 and deleted it
Desperately wanted the Radiohead album, In Rainbows. Not available in good quality on P2P. Paid for it, downloaded it, loved it and bought the full media box (which arrived just before Xmas).
The interesting thing is that Radiohead don't have a record company - they're one of the world's most bankable artists from a sales and touring/live show point of view, but they've deliberately not got a deal. All the profits will go to them and the companies that helped them release and distribute the album.
Record companies will either embrace the new distribution methods or they will die. It's simple. Someone with a good song can record and distribute it so easily now that a record company hardly need be involved. Even producers, studios and engineers might change their methods to work on a percentage fee only, rather than a retainer plus fee.
As has been pointed out above, very few artists ever got rich from sales of the songs alone. Let us have the music much cheaper and we'll have more money to spend on t-shirts, fancy posters and live dates!
Survival of the fittest applies to the record industry too.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
