torrent file sharing

[fu_im_from_texas]

I have a handfull of friends who are musicians. Some are sucessful enough to play music for a living. Some work for a living, and play music because it brings them joy. They all agree that file sharing is good for the musician. It exposes people to thier band... people who would have probably never heard them play otherwise. Sence most bands get almost no cut of CD sales, they could care less how many albums they sell. They would much rather you go see them play live, where they get a cut of the door entry, and sometimes even a cut of the alchohol sales...

Clearly record companys are hurt by file sharing. Expecially when end users have no intention of ever buying the CD (you know, download to "try before you buy"). Many times these record companies have several thousands dollars tied up in recording/promotion costs.

Even with this clearly unfair situation, I have a hard time empathizing with record companies (expecially the larger ones). They are notoriously cut-throat in nature, and will screw over anyone who gets in the way of chasing that almighty dollar. They have little/no interest in providing the artist with an ave. to express themself (the whole point of music) ... the laws of karma must have created file sharing

So is it right or wrong to file share? I have no idea ...