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have joined together to sue him. Five! Does it really take five multi-billion dollar companies to pulverize an 11-year-old kid who really liked music but couldn't afford CDs? Is that ethical?

Again, the service record companiesonce provided is no longer necessary. In the pre-Internet days, record labels were instrumental in marketing for the artists they represented and in producing their actual CDs. Artists, in order to fulfill agreements they'd made with their labels, were often forced to churn out a minimum number of albums in a particular amount of time. The result was that consumers often ended up buying CDs that had one or two outstanding radio hits and 10 tracks worth of "filler." This not only alienated fans, who had expected higher quality from their favorite bands, but in many instances, it also hurt performers' reputations. Uncomfortable releasing albums filled with subpar tracks, bands like Pearl Jam and the Dave Matthews Band chose instead to make redundant live and acoustic albums until their contractual agreements had been met. Thus, from both the artists' and listeners' perspectives, record companies have not exactly been conducting business in an ethical manner.

The men and women who actually create the music make most of their money at concerts, not on CDs sold at retail stores. While some musical performers like Metallica and Dr. Dre have expressed outrage at their fans for "not supporting them," many artists have openly stated that they are not offended, as when U2 singer "Bono" who said, "I'm already overpaid anyway." It is therefore illogical to demonize kids for listening to music, without also calling into account the ethics of record companies, mere middlemen who create nothing and expect to get paid for it.

Learn more about this author, M. Frederick Voorhees.
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