Since the RIAA attacks began on the peer-to-peer applications like Napster and Audiogalaxy, I've heard, and agreed with, a lot of people saying that it's been blown out of all proportion, and that file sharing actually increases exposure and therefore sales.

I have a few MP3s. Most of them I listen to once or twice a year, because they're fun to listen to occasionally, but not good enough to waste my money on. However, I have bought at least 15 CDs (I have a total of about 30) and 5 DVDs as a direct result of file sharing applications. Hell, I've bought 6 or 7 Dido cds, and I came across her thanks to Napster. My opinion of all forms of piracy - music, film, software, whatever - is that if it's good enough for me to listen to/watch/use on a frequent basis, then the person/people who created it deserve my money. Record artists aren't losing money because of me, they're getting more; I would never have gone out and bought a Tori Amos cd, but after Pete quoted the lyrics to '1000 Oceans' in a strip on Sluggy, I downloaded it, decided that it's definitely one of the best songs I've heard, and bought the cd. Incidentally, the record company forced Pete to remove the lyrics from the image. I mean, how rediculous is that.

Anyway, User Friendly linked to this article by Janis Ian, a musician who disagrees with the record industry's stance. While I know that there are a lot of people who agree with the points in this article, I havent come across anything similar. We need more people like her to speak out and make the record industry etc figure out what's really going on.