If bands can put their music on this internet they don`t need record companies.

Thats why they`re so against this. They don`t have a monopoly anymore. People can make a decent living putting music online & touring. The way things are going having an album in a shop will become a novelty and not really needed.

Ethan, does it ever occur to you that a band cannot do everything by standing out on the street with a guitar, and posting flyers?
You're smart, I know you are so quit being so thick to what I'm saying.

And riseagainst thanks for atleast having enough brain cells to say that. Maybe since you're a mod here they wont try to crucify you for it. But sure as hell as I say it, every member online is going to form a little angry mob.

At the rate music is evolving with the Internet and cheaper recording equipment, labels as we know them will cease to exist in my opinion. Bands will record themselves, tour themselves (or with an agencies help) and manage their own merchendise and albums.

EDIT: Urban beat me too it.

I think homegrown labels will still be around, but mostly for managing the day to day finances and logistics of touring.

And I don't really get your main point. Obviously the band the sells the most will get pushed hardest by the label. That is common sense.

Theres nothing wrong with that, and I sit on a bench for the record >.>

I`m not angry , you`re the one coming out with insults

All I've said is my main point, and you hit the nail on the head, is the more sales the more attention from the company. I've heard of too many bands not getting signed when they're actually good, and a band I listened to had to quit due to no record sales.

Another reason I download.....

Record companies have been price fixing & over charging (And found guilty for it) for CDs for over 20 years.

The way I see it filesharing is just one big 'f*ck you' for that

I'm not saying your point isn't valid, and I agree with that one. I just buy the CD when I can, so if they do ever lose intrest in the band, atleast I know I own a copy. Until the theory of bands being able to manage themselves proves true, it's the labels that have to maintain intrest in them.

wow, i'm kinda bummed i missed all of this clusterbleep. i would go on a tyrade, but it'd just be redundant. safe to say, IMO, P2P sharing, although illegal, and potentially harmful to record label's pocketbooks, has given me so much, and improved my taste in music, my knowledge of music, and inspiration for my own music, that i never could have had through buying a potentially good cd every few months. call me selfish, call me ignorant, say i'm going too far, but i wouldn't be the same today if i hadn't been able to download songs. plain and simple.