Salty Thumb wrote:

As I understand it, musicians sign record contracts and the record
company
pays them a set amount. The record company then sells the music at a
fixed
price (that is until they got busted) and keeps the profits. So in
essence, people who download illegal mp3s are really ripping off the
record
company, whose executives and share holders, let me tell you, worked
really
hard to feed their families.

You only partially understand it. Just as an actor can be paid a
flat-rate for appearing in a movie, or get a percentage of the gross or
net, a musician can be paid any way they can negotiate. Acts that don't
expect to sell very much may be smart to take a flat-rate, and let the
record company take all the risk, but that's certainly not the way all
artists are paid. Even so, the people who work for the record companies
go to work each day to feed their families as well, and the stock
holders are risking their money. Your 401k or pension fund may even have
an investment in the music companies, so part of your money is being
risked.

However the point is that people involved in the production and
distribution of anything, including hybrid plants, should be allowed to
profit from their labors, and not be ripped-off by people who think it's
okay to steal just because there's a corporation involved. How the
profits are distributed among the people involved in the production and
distribution is irrelevant, and it's distasteful to hear people imply
that it's morally okay for them to rip-off people based on how they
understand the way the profits are divided.

--
Warren H.

==========
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