SecretMethod70

Actually, first of all, copyright infringement is not theft. I've already pointed this out, and it is still true. Second, you're right - most artists aren't raking in the dough. However, when it comes to the major labels, the truth is they're rarely EVER raking in any dough from album sales. Most ARTISTS earn their money from touring, merchandise, etc. The majority of the money from CD sales goes to the labels. Artists of major record labels get very little from album sales - even with acts like TLC, who get huge success, if the contract signed is not a good one - and theirs wasn't, they earned about $1 per album sold - the artist makes very little money. TLC was forced to declare bankruptcy. Third, if the logic were as simple as you make it out to be, there wouldn't be a huge number of artists who support file sharing as well. Clearly, many of the artists do not feel cheated or stolen from - at least not by the consumer. The people most artists feel are doing the cheating - indeed, the people that ARE doing the cheating - are the major labels. The very major labels that are trying to stop file sharing "to protect the artists." The very major labels that know almost all that money goes to THEM and not the artist and refuse to make it any different. The very major labels who, when they attempt to sign new artists, almost always start out with a contract that basically amounts to owning all the artist's creative work for the rest of their life. Hence the rule for recording contracts - NEVER sign the first version.

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling