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Story: Record industry mounts IM campaign against file swappers

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I think the following quote by Janis Ian that was written in an article named "Spanish cut-price music web site forced to close"
By Paul Mitchell
26 July 2003

says it all:

In an open letter, artist Janis Ian likens called the record industry’s set-up, with its obligatory seven albums and difficult to end contracts, “at best indentured servitude (and at worst slavery).” She continued, “everyone is forgetting the main way an artist becomes successful—exposure. Without exposure, no one comes to shows, no one buys CDs, no one enables you to earn a living doing what you love. Again, from personal experience: in 37 years as a recording artist, I’ve created 25-plus albums for major labels, and I’ve never once received a royalty check that didn’t show I owed them money. So I make the bulk of my living from live touring, playing for 80-1,500 people a night, doing my own show.... Who gets hurt by free downloads? Save a handful of super-successes like Celine Dion, none of us. We only get helped.”

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