down the rabbit hole

If you ever wondered where the money winds up that you shell out for CDs and online tracks, read this. If music pirating has hurt their profits per song, online sales are making up some of that difference.

So if you're worried about the fate of the record labels, buying some songs online kind of makes up for pirating some songs. If you're not worried about the companies, it's dissapointing because they're taking so much that online music stores may fail, and because the songs aren't as cheap as they could be.

I'm of the school of thought that if the songs are cheaper, people will download more and pirate less, especially if the online stores are easy to use. I used to use Napster and then Audiogalaxy, but I quit because it took too much time to put together a full album without any cut-off or glitchy songs.

I've also thought that perhaps people who pirate songs but want to support artists--and not just the labels--could send money directly to the artists. Like:

Dear DJ Shadow, I'm a fan who stole your music and wants to help you out a bit. I sent five dollars, which is probably far more than you would have made if I'd gone to the store and bought all your albums. Keep up the good work. -M

Of course I wouldn't put my name or a real return address on there. But if I send a letter to an artist at their label, will the label just take the money?

(Link from Earplug.)