Dear Lily

With major labels pushing for new legislation to combat the onslaught of file sharing I can't help but remember my youth in the 80's when these same labels were concerned about people copying albums to blank cassettes and sharing them with others. A large majority of my junior high music collection was on copied cassettes. In fact the owner of the local record shop copied the first two Bad Brains albums on to cassette tape for me, because he knew I couldn't afford them & was itching to hear the tunes. And you know what? When I found a job I returned to the same store and purchased I against I with my first check.
Now the music industry is taking a new approach to this concept by saying that younger bands won't make it because of file sharing. Never mind that younger bands can now record their albums at home and not in expensive studios like I had to in my youth... Am I the only one that feels insulted by this? These same labels that released albums only for sale in Walmart and other large chains are saying that we have to support them for the sake of independent artists? These same organizations that sat back and did nothing when local record stores were closing right and left in the 90's, the stores that made them money; but now they want to help the little guy? Sadly if this approach works we are going to probably see it in other industries soon... i.e. Remember the days when everyone knew each other in your neighborhood and you could buy your groceries at the local market, owned by your neighbor? That's why you should shop at Target. Well I'm calling bullocks. This is about major label artists alone. Independent bands have always made their money from touring and apparel. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not condoning theft. Nothing makes me more sick than when I hear about some website selling illegal music or software for gain (I'm looking at you particularly here Russia.) But I fail to see how some 14 year old kid downloading the new Jay-Z record is going to bankrupt Shawn Corey Carter. Maybe I'm naive, but I think a lot of people are like me, they might download something to check it out and if they really like it they'll buy the record for the lyrics, artwork, and to support something they believe in... Here's Dan Bull with his take: