Re:What about the artists? (Score 1)

The big five record companies (are there still five?) only care about artists' intellectual property/copyrights insofar as they provide a method for controlling the means of distribution. Record companies are merely huge marketing and distribution networks - they control the rights to copy and sell the works produced by artists under contract to them. Currently, the record company owns the copyright to a recording for the first 35 years of its existence, at which time the artist can file claim to his/her copyright, which he/she will then hold until it enters public domain, 95 years after it was produced. The RIAA recently attempted to redefine musical recordings as 'works for hire' which would grant them copyright for the full 95 years! The artists in the mp3.com case will probably see some royalties (which in most cases will go towards paying off the advances they received from the record companies). The record companies get richer, the artists are still working their butts off, mp3.com will go bankrupt, and you and i will still be shelling out $16 for a CD which costs $4 for the record companies to put out. Support your local music scene.