music download sites?

[Antonio Olivares]

> > I've had long debates with some friends about
> downloading MP3s.  For me,
> > I wind up downloading MP3s for music I find
> interesting but not worth
> > buying the CD for.  So in my case, I can honestly say
> that the whole
> > RIAA argument about musicians having lost revenue are
> complete bullshit.
> >  If I find an artist I *really* like, I will go and
> buy the CD.  It's
> > worth 15 cents a track to check out an artist I'm
> not familiar with.  No
> > way would I plunk down $12-$15 for the same CD.
> 
> Artists lose revenue through illegal file-sharing.  Artists
> gain revenue if 
> you buy from reputable sites.  Magnatune guarantee that the
> artist will get 
> 50% of whatever you pay (I don't know how they split it
> when you buy monthly 
> subscriptions).  

I hate to disagree with some of the arguments here, but here it goes:

Artists lose money either which way :(, they make the money via concerts, presentations.  The guys at recording studios rip them off, the illegal/legal file sharing guys as well.  I have a friend who had hit somewhat big in the 80's and once in a while he and his group go out to the states, like Florida, New York, Illinois, Nevada and California.  He asked his recording studio to make for him like 50 cd's so he could take to his presentations.  They charged him(the original author, songs were all his own), like $10 for each cd.  He asked me if I could burn for him multiple copies of his big hits and how much I would charge him.  I told him to bring me the cd's(blanks) and I would happily burn them and then a friend copy the cd label and print out the cd covers.  He wanted to pay me $5 for each cd, but since he is a friend of the family, I told him that it was OK :)

I asked if anything was illegal and he told me that if I ever get into trouble, as the original author of the music/songs he would go to court with me if necessary.

The good^{*} artists give away their music for free and release it under protective licenses.  They are released under Cretive common licenses or something like that.  

Regards,

Antonio 

^{*}  the word good here is subjective, so YMMV.  Good refers to kind people who like to share their work so others can enjoy it too without paying royalities.  Like we enjoy using Fedora for free and we do not pay to use it :)