Ok, so this may not be a direct OPINION to Henry's original topic and maybe more suited in a new thread but it has to be mentioned. UNFORTUNATELY this is just the tip of the iceberg. And deep down everyone on this debate, regardless of opinion, knows it, like it or not. Whether you benefit or loose out from filesharing and digital downloads, the fact of the matter is that its not going to go away. In fact its gonna get a whole lot more complicated. For starters, as technology improves, mp3's will be replaced with better quality and smaller files. In "X" amount of years the GENERAL populations need for "physical" formats will be obselete. We all love our music on here but you have to remember we are a tiny percentage of the global consumer market. Your AVERAGE person who pops into HMV to buy a CD once a month will not give a shit whether their music now comes in an invisible format. In fact, they'd probably want to rush out and buy the latest 10th Generation iPod to play it on and impress their mates and lo and behold, another convertee. Well, we dont need to look to the future to see this going on. How many pairs of white headphones do you see on the tube or trains and busses compared to just 1 year ago? Legal music or not playing through those headphones, its an invisible, digital format! Where will this leave the Underground artists, label owners, record companies and distributers? As Im writing this it makes me very anxious indeed. I don't like it, but what can WE do to adapt to it?

A French minister is under the spotlight at the moment for his comments on wanting to legalize flie sharing. http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=172512

IF this becomes legal, all the Soulseek, Limewire etc... servers will re-locate to France and trade legally! It probably won't happen but the fact that there is a proposal is scary enough. In the statement it mentions a flat, monthly subscription fee. Yes, a percentage of the cash will go to the artists (I hope) but you can guarantee it will be distributed amongst the Robbies and Kylies of the music scene and very little will get filtered down to the small fish. Even with a publisher/manager to collect this cash on your behalf, it will generate peanuts.
As things stand, SELLING mp3's online isn't proving very profitable for underground artists or labels (yet? - who knows!) Actually, nor is selling vinyl! (We are going round in a loop!) And its a bitter pill to swallow Im sure because its something that needs to be done to keep up with the market place more than something that is done through love. In fact, creating and maintaining digital catalogues takes up manpower and time. This dosen't come free.
And finally, Online digital sales opens up other questions for underground dance music. Would the mp3's be selling online if the original vinyl labels didn't exist? How quickly will we see the rise of "internet-only" artists? If the demand for digital sales makes it so that it would be a financial disaster to produce/sell vinyl anymore, what format will DJs choose to be the INDUSTRY STANDARD and could the artists survive on digital royalties? Could this create backlash to the club industry with all the djs trying to survive by means of a DJ pay packet, fighting for gigs, essentially diluting clubland more than it is already?
As I said at the top of this post, maybe this needs to be a new thread or 3.