Maybe you've downloaded a song from the Internet lately. And maybe the song you downloaded was by an artist you'd never heard before. Then you may have picked up their CD or gone to see them live. Maybe that artist supported music download. Let's say it's an artist you've heard about on the radio, TV, or another source; if that's the situation, the artist is already making a lot of money. The Internet is a great way to get your music in front of people who wouldn't be able to listen to you in other situations. Many artists need it. This is why music piracy should be legal. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Without exposure, no one comes to see them live and no one buys CDs or other merchandise. Speaking as an artist who had music available on the Internet, I know from experience that many more people listen to you than if you had no music available for download. My band didn't get signed to a label until someone heard us on the Internet and enjoyed it. I had the chance to speak with Matt Huffman, founder and owner of Dishwater Records. I asked him how many bands he's signed to that he'd heard about music piracy. He told me that more than half of the bands on his label were found through music piracy in some way. Who is harmed by free downloads? Save a handful of super hitters like Celine Dion, none of the real musicians are real people who you would see walking around without bodyguards. They are only helped. Janis Ian is an artist who strongly supports music piracy. She says that letting people download music for free actually makes money: "The day I offered downloadable music, sales of my merchandise tripled," Ian said in an article she wrote. Despite what you've been told, many musicians support music piracy. Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) and Bono (U2), to name a few. Another artist who supports music piracy is James Kochlka. His motto on music piracy is "Music is culture and you can't put a price on culture." I had the chance to talk to a musician whose music can be found and downloaded illegally; Jimmy Vela of the band Recover. I asked him what his opinion was on music piracy and his response was "I don't mind it, it's just a good way to get new music heard." The music industry is making too big of a deal about this music piracy. also the thing. The recording industry says downloading music from the Internet is ruining their business, destroying sales and costing artists money. This is far from the truth. In 1999, the first year Napster operated, record sales increased 11 percent. Then, in the first quarter of 2000, record sales increased another 8% (Boycott 1). Sales of blank CD-R discs have grown nearly 2 1/2 times over the past two years. If only half of the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, the number of CDs burned worldwide would nearly equal the number of CDs sold at retail. CD-Rs are great, you can back up data, music or not and let's not forget making copies of your CDs for personal use which is perfectly legal (Ian 1) So is making copies and handing them out to people for free. Exactly the same thing was thought when tape recorders came out. And don't think that was the only time. They said this about DATs, mini disks, music videos and MTV. Actually.