[discostu]

You might not have a problem with it, but I think one of the saddest things that could be said about our generation would be that we were the ones that took music out of people's lives. If the national music industry falls apart the local music scenes will become smaller, it's exposure to music that makes people decide to make music. If the industry crumbles people wo't be exposed to music so regularly and some will manage to avoid it all together, then fewer people will decide to make music. Our generation will be dead by then, but that's a lousy gift to leave the next ones. I've always felt it's our duty to leave the place better than we found it, we can't do that by taking music away from the world.

[longtermmemmory]

I really believe a open download system would be far more profitable. Even at 25 cents a download that if the three million people on kazza download one son a day that is $750000.00 a day times 365 days a year is 27,375,000.00. Is that chiken feed to the music industry? yes. BUT cheep access would yeld profits that are going lost now to lesser quality versions. It would also make a market for financially unviable specialty songs. (just ask Dr. Demento)

[Not Insane]

__You might not have a problem with it, but I think one of the saddest things that could be said about our generation would be that we were the ones that took music out of people's lives. __

I think your premise is wrong. Thanks to the same internet you think will destroy music, good jokes are emailed to millions of people in a matter of days. What do you think will happen when good music is discovered by some "average guy" in a bar in Maple Valley, Washington. He sends it to everyone he knows and the next thing you know, the whole world knows about it.

Good music in the future will be made more available to EVERYONE than it is now. And it will come from diverse communities that the current recording industry doesn't have the time nor inclination to tap.

Standard music biz marketing is SOOOOOO twentieth century.

[steve-b]

If the national music industry falls apart the local music scenes will become smaller

Nonsense. The iron law is the same in ecosystems or markets: When an incumbent goes down, the survivors expand to fill the niche.