[Kyobanim]

I get a check from BMI every 6 months, based on song performance and plays by different venues like bars, hotels, whatever. If someone downloads a song from the internet and plays it for themselves I really don't give a shit.

But when someone downloads a song and plays in in their bar, business establishment, burns a copy and gives/sells it to someone else, etc., I have a problem with it.

The business model for the music industry hasn't changed in 40 years. You want to know why the corporation make all the money? They are the ones that:
1. Pay for the studio time. Usually at a large cost, depending on the studio.
2. Pays for a top notch engineer. Price usually not negotiable,
3. Pays for the producer, again, price not negotiable.
Needless to say, the cost of producing an albumn is not cheap, average cost 250 to 500k.

Now, the company puts up the cash to make this record, pays to market it, advertising, whatever. They have also paid the artist a piece of change based on negotiations and what the company thinks they are going to make in profits, most often it isn't much, but sometimes it a big chunk of change. That's why they can tell you what you can and can't do.

So the first person to get paid IF the cash starts rolling in is the company. Usually they don't make enough money to pay for what they got but that's the nature of the beast.

Here's the good part, the artist knows going in how this is all going to play out and how much they are going to get out of it. They know that they will have to tour to make money. That's how it works. The artist only see's money from an albumn if they're on par with michael jackson or linkin park or someone like that. You have to literally earn the right to have a say in your album creation.

Now, by making copies of metallica songs and giving them to your friends you robbed the writers of those songs (metallica) of royalties. Now, the question isn't 'how many fans did they get from you're pirated songs' but, was a crime committed?

According to U.S. laws, you can be charged and fined if found guilty.

I could go on but I have found from past conversations that arguing sides in this is pointless. No one wants to follow the law when it comes to intellectual rights.