The music industry is a complicated and annoying, which is why so many artists are breaking free and trying to simplify things. 

The system is broken, and there will always be a way to obtain media without paying for it. The industry must adapt itself to this reality. As a consumer and a very savvy 'net user, I am going to do what pleases me, record labels & studios be darned. Deal with it.

As a former recording artist and presently as a studio engineer i have a mixed view of the situation. As an artist i would like to get more from the pie but as an engineer both sides provide me with a job. Longer commitments come from the recording companies, more interesting deals come from the artists. The former means more money in the long run and the latter doesn't necessarily pay as much but are more fun.

Anyway the situation has changed in the last 10 years and more and more i see the artists involvement rise. More income comes now from the live shows and as a music consumer that is a good thing. I do shamelessly download music and that is because if i don't, i definately won't pay for that album (or can't even purchase it anywhere in most cases ie small labels, obscure artists, geographical locations etc..) and thus won't be listening to it. For the individual people in the business the internet hasn't cause jobloss, quite the contrary. Those with knowledge and talent have even more opportunities than before. Back then the artists used studios only for demos and the labels contracted only a handful of studios to do the expensive stuff. Now it' is more diversified and i think that the overall quality hasn't dropped much (there are numoerous examples even in the mainstream to note the contrary thou..) and the volume of recordings have skyrocketted.

As an artist, i won't mind sharing my music if someone really wants to listen it in Japan and more people listen, the more likely you're getting gigs, labels will back you up and so on..

As a former recording artist and presently as a studio engineer i have a mixed view of the situation. As an artist i would like to get more from the pie but as an engineer both sides provide me with a job. Longer commitments come from the recording companies, more interesting deals come from the artists. The former means more money in the long run and the latter doesn’t necessarily pay as much but are more fun.

Anyway the situation has changed in the last 10 years and more and more i see the artists involvement rise. More income comes now from the live shows and as a music consumer that is a good thing. I do shamelessly download music and that is because if i don’t, i definately won’t pay for that album (or can’t even purchase it anywhere in most cases ie small labels, obscure artists, geographical locations etc..) and thus won’t be listening to it. For the individual people in the business the internet hasn’t cause jobloss, quite the contrary. Those with knowledge and talent have even more opportunities than before. Back then the artists used studios only for demos and the labels contracted only a handful of studios to do the expensive stuff. Now it’ is more diversified and i think that the overall quality hasn’t dropped much (there are numoerous examples even in the mainstream to note the contrary thou..) and the volume of recordings have skyrocketted.

As an artist, i won’t mind sharing my music if someone really wants to listen it in Japan and more people listen, the more likely you’re getting gigs, labels will back you up and so on..

Also, I think internet radio should be held to the same standard as normal radio.

Also, I think internet radio should be held to the same standard as normal radio.