I don't believe the practise is that widespread - how many people are going to bother recording a record, so they can give it away for nothing on p2p? not that many surely in techno terms, as stated above it would be more likely people recording cd's for their own use, to save carrying around the vinyl. If CD seems the way to go, then maybe the small labels should just start selling cd singles? I realise this will push up their manufacturing costs tho.... Personally I rip my cd's I've bought to my computer just for ease of listening,
but one thing that nobody on here has mentioned is the effect of p2p has had on the music buying public's appetite.....it has increased it. Music sales in the uk in 2004 were the largest recorded in history, now I know this doesn't necessarily translate into sales for small labels around these parts, and you could argue that the mainstream artists are just selling more copies cheaper...............but it proves a point - the more music people have (illegal or not) the more they want, remember video didn't kill the cinema - it re-invented it.

I'm sure we will soon see labels selling downloads, some have already started - truelove, trackitdown and no doubt lots of others. Paying a quid for a banging track is a bargain, add 20 pence for a blank cd and voila! and is probably more profitable for the label who only a make a quid or two on a 12", before long everybody will be offering this service or getting another company to offer it for them, it's inevitable, it's just that there will be a period of instability as the market settles down, but to steal tracks at that price is taking the p*ss, I'd rather have a top quality guaranteed to play to the end track and pay my money.

Personally though I would rather watch somebody mix on a pair of decks (vinyl or CD) than watch a laptop set.....'Hey dude check out my mouse action...' :lol: :lol: it's not very rock and roll is it?