As I have said before, if you think it is so easy to run a record company AND pay the musicians what they want, and stay in business, have at it! It's a LOT more expensive than you think it is. For every hit a record company has, they probably release 100 songs that don't hit. But they cost as much to make and distribute...

Yes, there are sharks in the music business. There are sharks in EVERY business. Business attracts sharks! But no-one says that, if migrant crop pickers are payed lousy, mistreated and intimidated by the companies that hire THEM, lettuce should be free... just go down the supermarket and steal it!

But mysteriously, that's how people think about music.

Sad...

Trouble is, the same mechanism that prevents record companies (those rotters!) from getting any money out of their product (rampant piracy) is the exact same mechanism to steal music even from musicians that are NOT being exploited by a record company. Some musicians produce and distribute their own product, and some musicians have excellent relations with their record companies. But they are ALL being stolen from... Nobody is looking up anyone's contract and going 'He's getting ten points on this CD, we won't download that!', they just steal it all anyway.

Bottom line is, why should anyone pay YOU for your live performance? Why do you deserve to get paid, but the artist and record company that made a CD shouldn't? You are being 'exploited' by club owners and restaurant owners (all of whom are doing MUCH better than you are ), so consequently, if there's any logic to the stealing of music from a record company because they are doing well off the back of a poorly paid musician (and the hell with whether it hurts the musician, too), why shouldn't you get stiffed for your live performances, too?

I mean, you won't MIND playing for free from now on, will you? It's what you expect of recording artists...