re: Why is it ok to steal media?

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The $ part of it is the business side, and true artists who aren't greedy promote filesharing (see: trent reznor and NIN relasing a full length album for free, radiohead, etc) Musicians these days (the broadband age) make their money touring from merchandise rather than record sales.

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Good points. The music industry is starting to realize that file sharing is not going away anytime soon. Most artists and bands are starting to promote themselves via free file sharing in an attempt to broaden there fanbase and thus increase merch sales and the demand when they tour.

By increasing your fanbase, you increase your demand and inevitably the ticket prices which leads to them making more money.

In short, free file sharing can be beneficial to artists if done right. Especially for up and coming artists who are trying to make a name for themselves.