It must be a popular year for album covers with women holding shells to their ear: http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/newyork/2012/09/tvd-vinyl-giveaway-allah-las-st/
Everyone deserves access to music in the same way that everyone deserves access to books. Although I do it a lot less now that I'm older, illegal downloading is sometimes the only option for younger people who are not old enough to hold a job but still have a passion for music. I now try to buy every album I like on vinyl and go to shows and whatnot, but if I didn't download music when I was younger I would not be buying nearly as much as I do today. To discourage this kind of behavior would, in my opinion, hurt indie music.
Also, fuck predatory record labels. All artists should own their own content and make the majority of the revenue from sales. The argument made above that artists "choose" to enter into these agreements would seem disingenuous to anyone who has spent any amount of time working in the music business. Art is a beautiful thing, business isn't.
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