I know this is problem been disscussed, but i seriously think that organisations such as Napster and Audiogalaxy do not harm the music industry, but infact help it.
I discovered Audiogalaxy about a year and a half ago and preceded to download many songs from it, by new bands i did not no. Many of these new band i really liked and because of the website and free downloading i bought their cds, e,g Sublime, Powderfinger, Counting Crows. Without audiogalaxy i would probably not have heard of these bands, or if i had would not have been inclined to buy their cds as i would have no means of listening to their music first.
The music industry, namely The RIAA, claims that MP3 downloading takes money away from musciains, but they view ‘muscians’ as BSB or westlife, or any of these pathetic boy bands and other manafactured ‘music groups’. I argue that because of AG and Napster the smaller bands are able to have their music broadcast free over the internet for music fans to discover and then make an educated decision of whether or not they want to buy their CD’s.
However the RIAA still refuses to listen and sues the site, i find this to be in keeping with the state of the music industry at the moment, and to be honest i cant see a way out of it, i know that in America you have more indepentent that play slighlty more alternative music, but over here in Britain their is none, Radio 1 is a joke, and their is nothing else.
How many other people have actually bought cds they would not have bought as a result of these MP3 sites, i know that myself and many of my friends all feel the same, but the sad fact is i dont see how its going to change. 