Mashups 2009 and RIP

I've been watching Rip, a documentary on the illegal download and use of music and what some say is the future of artistic freedom. A few thoughts. I was hooked on Napster like most any kid back in the day. It was a new world of music I'd never had the chance to check out in its entirety. It was a portal to new bands most of us may have never known without it, too. But even then I knew it was wrong to download. Ya, sure, it's some "evil corporation" making most of the profits. That I'm not really sure of. What I am sure of is that those same music corporations support the very artists I like and listen to. Most any artist that sells a CD these days (at more than the local bar) usually is signed with some type of record label. Without that support most of us wouldn't know about them. In order for them to have incentive to continue making music they need to get paid. It's only a dollar (or less) per song most places. Is that really so hard to give a dollar for good music? Are we just telling ourselves it's about freedom against the tyranny of an evil corporation so that we don't feel so bad for stealing music? Remember it was an artist, Metallica, that sued Napster, not their major label...Or should it even matter to these corporations or music labels or artists what we as small individuals do with their sounds and how we interpret and mix what they've made?

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