by Brian Buchowski

Created on: July 26, 2007

OK. Let me preface this by saying that I personally am a professional touring musician. I make my living selling my band's cds at shows. Having spent the last couple of years clawing my way out of the debt I created while recording my last album, I can say that every cd sold helps me feel like I'm regaining a little control over my financial situation. So..

Maybe I'm a little biased.

That being said, I will freely admit to downloading music myself. I know this doesn't make it right, but I try to limit myself to downloading only music that I know I would never actually buy. Bands that I'm curious about, but not curious enough to spend real money on. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a snob, so that broad generalization encompasses an awful lot of today's music. Call it a crime of imperfect justification.

Even if I can justify it to myself though, that doesn't mean it's "ethical". However you spin it, artists spend a lot of money on their music, and when you procure that music without paying for it, you are taking money out of their pockets. A lot of people in this debate are still subscribing to the outdated myth that "artists make so much money, they won't miss it if I download their single for free." Let me debunk that myth.

The days of multi-million selling albums are coming to an end. Mostly this is due to the big record companies incredibly short-sighted response to the internet as a communication and sales tool. There is another big issue though.

More and more, fans of music aren't learning about new bands the way they used to in the glory days of the music business. The advent of social networking behemoths like MySpace means that music fans have access to thousands of bands who don't fit the profile of Clearchannel Radio-rock. On top of that, the increased accessibility of professional grade studio gear to the hobby musician means that bands don't really need a major label to turn out a pro-sounding product.

What, you ask, does this have to do with anything? Well, these trends are having a really unusual effect on the music industry. Because kids aren't just watching MTV and listening to the radio to learn about music, the market is fragmenting. Rapidly. And as anyone in any business will tell you, it's a LOT harder to move products when you're reaching out to 30 splinter markets instead of one homogenized mass of people.

The end result of this (and my point) is that bands - even major label acts that crack the top 40 - simply aren't selling as many records

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