Well good, I can keep pirating music without feeling bad.
But seriously, if the record companies caught on to the fact that people downloading music are doing so because they love music, not because they hate the industry, they could be making a lot of money. Lets say Atlantic records got their own paid torrent tracker and charged $20 a month to download albums at will. There would still be the super leeches taking 10-15 albums a month and after the first download it would be loose for everyone. But I know plenty of people that would pay the $20 a month, get two or three albums a month just because it's easier than navigating the spam and virus party that is bittorrent. When it becomes easier to buy music than steal it, people will actually buy it. But when I can get just about any album days, even months, before they are released in a matter of minutes, why would I go to the store which may or may not have it in stock even weeks after the release date.
Until the record companies start seeking listeners where they live, they are going to keep floundering. Just look at iTunes, it took the record companies too long to figure out that people would actually pay the same amount for something that costs half what it does to produce a packaged album. Now some have and -- gadzooks -- people are actually buying more legal digital music. It'll be the same with torrents, hell, smart pirates are already charging for community-driven trackers and take requests for new content.
Until then, I'll keep stealing music and spending that money on concert tickets and T-shirts. That way I'm actually giving money to all the actual band members in the bands that I never would have found browsing the local record store.
