The never-ending argument..

..of whether people should pay for music as it is a product or whether music is considered art and consequently should be available to anyone is an often complicated and provocative one.

I would be a complete hypocrite to say you shouldn't download music. Though I spend a lot of money each month supporting little artists as I feel they need the money more (not necessarily deserve it), I am fully aware of the lunacy in my actions, everybody pays to make records so everybody should pay to listen to them, no matter how many likes they have on facebook.

Artists have provided their points of view on whether they mind if people buy their records or not. Often large artists don't mind as they can still make a substantial living through touring, merchandising, branding etc.

However, little artists often have second jobs to support the career they really want to explore, as do many other people I know. If you want to be a photographer, you have to do wedding photos to fund your live photography portfolio etc.

Here is a very interesting short piece by Tom from Her Name Is Calla which says more and more each time you read it.

I suggest you do.

When was the last time you bought a record before hearing it first?