i have only a few albums that i listen to on a regular basis that i don't own in some form. most of them can't be bought anywhere (demo's, independent releases, etc). but of the ones that can be found, only two i really feel bad about, and intend to buy at some point.
these are the first two vast albums. if anyone has heard of them, they did something really, really revolutionary just recently. the last cd they made, "nude" was comprised of the best 12 songs from two ten-song demos, which they sold over the internet. not on cd, but in mp3 format. send them 3 bucks with paypal, you get ten songs.
basically, each was a 3 dollar cd in itself, except they never had to pay any record company, any album art designer, any publishing cost, etc. almost all of that 3 dollar went straight to the artist. compare that with the record-label standard of less than dollar per album.
with a strong fan base, word of mouth/internet, money going to the artist not a company, and really good music... they made a killing.
lesson to the record companies: work with it, not against it.
i do download music. the two most common reasons i download music are either because i want to hear the song for myself, or so i can have a portable copy of it. i'm a vinyl collector. while i can rip my vinyl to my computer, i'd rather a better transfer method. so for instance, i downloaded rage against the machine's entire catalog one night, but theoretically it's ok because i've already bought all the albums. and i do listen to them, but turntables don't work so well in cars.
This message has been edited by Arachnophilia, 09-23-2004 04:42 PM