I actually thought about this a few days ago, also
being a musician and wondering how MP3's are
affecting musicians. As far as I know, I think
most bands make most of their money doing tours
and that sort of thing, while most of the money
from CD sales doesn't go to the band. It seems
logical to me that in the near future a band could
do quite well by just releasing recorded music for
free as MP3's and then making their money entirely
from tours and performances. I think record
labels are more concerned about becoming obsolete in a few years than losing money from the piracy that is going on today. Just my two cents...