Just another aside to the "downloading is killing the industry" argument - what's the difference between this and taping ten or twenty years ago? The only real difference is that whereas with tapes you were limited to your friends record collections (or the racks of the local record library if you were more crafty), nowadays the range of available music is significantly larger, given anyone with P2P software and an internet connection can be your "friend".
Now there are iPods, back then we had Walkmans. Now we have downloads, back then we had C90's. But read any of the hysteria - from either side - and you'd swear downloads, or at least the concept of "pirated music", was something new and novel and "cutting edge".
Might the real reason the industry is struggling be because music has been over marketed for a couple of decades and the big labels haven't released much of significance or worth in years? I don't know about anybody else, but most of the music I've downloaded is old stuff. Which I'd buy if I had the money. Second hand. On vinyl. From eBay.
Now there are iPods, back then we had Walkmans. Now we have downloads, back then we had C90's. But read any of the hysteria - from either side - and you'd swear downloads, or at least the concept of "pirated music", was something new and novel and "cutting edge".
Might the real reason the industry is struggling be because music has been over marketed for a couple of decades and the big labels haven't released much of significance or worth in years? I don't know about anybody else, but most of the music I've downloaded is old stuff. Which I'd buy if I had the money. Second hand. On vinyl. From eBay.