Save the artists...

Should you have to pay for music you download online? Is it in a musician's favor to have someone download their song for free, or are they simply being pirated? This argument has been going on forever. Personally, I think the stuff should be free. I think people who buy MP3s online are supporting an outmoded system that rarely trickles down to the artist. Time to rethink.

Sarah and I have come up with an alternate system. When you want to download a song, there's an optional pop-up registry of items that the author and/or performers of the song need taken care of - everything from rent to toothpaste to green m&ms. You make a small donation that goes into a "lock box" that will pay for whatever portion of the item you have chosen, and that item only. In this way listeners can have a direct impact on the artist's well being. New economies would be created. New jobs too. Some insurance adjuster-type would have to spend time with aging rock stars to see really how many Viagra they actually went through in a month.

Rethinking your future one problem at a time... PG