[dangus]

What a heaping, steam pile of cr@p that article is. Downloading dropped 50% last year, and album sales are still declining.

The industry's goal of one catchy pop tune per album, and no real musicians (who would have the clout to argue for more money) is the real problem. Rock (and pop music, in general) died when MTV and Rolling Stone became about nothing other than fashion.

Downloading allows consumers to test the waters to find out if there is more to a band than the first pop ditty. Record labels should encourage it, just as they encourage radio stations to play their songs.

[commish]

The industry's goal of one catchy pop tune per album, and no real musicians (who would have the clout to argue for more money) is the real problem

Ahh yes, the infamous KID CRAP er I mean KID ROCK ploy. Put one "Radio/Chart" friendly song on your album, and then follow it with 10 tracks of lousy screaming/cussing/drumlines.

[WOSG]

THe whole music industry is absurd ... western civilization has created 400 years of good music, and less than .5% of that good music was created last year, and 0% of that good music was marketed via MTV.

Dont buy any new music - period. Get old classical, blues, big band, jazz, R&B, crooners like sinatra, Bach, Opera, funk, bluegrass, Bob Wills, etc. Now if I can find a way to record stuff on my computer that plays on the internet radio stations, I'm set for life.

Better music for less. Win/win.

[Conservative4Ever]

This is simplistic I know. but...The old days had the record company take a young talent and invest some R&D in their music and career. Now, the talent has to have a fan base to begin with for the record companies to even give them an audition. As Mr. C4E says..the half-life of a band is 18 months.

[weegee]

As I say, I picked up the new Dirtbombs album last week. It is dated 2003 but I think that it was JUST released. Great album; I love it.

I read about this album MONTHS ago online (but hadn't heard any of it). Some people were saying that it was already on several file sharing systems PRIOR TO RELEASE. Maybe this is why they chose to add 2 different cuts to the vinyl and CD versions.

That great praise I read about the forthcoming album piqued my interest. If I had just seen it in the stores without any feel for it, I may have passed it over.