Bakalan, you make some interesting points, be it that they're all based around justifying why it's ok to download music. You're right that one download doesn't equal a lost sale, sometimes it can equal a sale, and sometimes when someone recommends a band to a friend, 2 sales! But essentially it means someone has access to a record and all of an artists work for free, and then can make a personal choice later on as to whether to pay or not.
You are missing the point slightly, that regardless of whether or not downloading is an ethical personal choice (as regards saving £10 on a CD you might not enjoy) it's still technically theft. As you yourself acknowledge, the main problem isn't people who buy music after downloading it, it's those who download, then just won't buy it no matter what.
We can argue about the statistics re: downloading forever, but if downloading isn't hurting bands and sales, why are CD sales falling away year after year (and don't say it's because bands put out lower quality albums each time
) The simple fact is that downloading = lower cd sales = killing the music industry as we know it. I can say this with confidence as in my capacity as Managing Director of an internationally available music magazine, I work with many labels who pass on a lot of information re sales vs downloads, legal downloads vs illegal downloads etc, we're talking extreme metal labels here, not EMI. Quite a few labels have closed their doors now, and many are hanging on by a thread. I don't care what anyone else "thinks" about this situation, whether labels are pretending things are bad and what arguments you can use to justify downloading in any situation, revenue for bands is falling fast. Many of you would probably shed a tear if you knew how many CD's some bands you enjoy actually sold, then wonder how they could justify carrying on making albums.
Regardless of our opinions, it obviously won't stop downloading. No government will be able to effectively legislate against downloading without effectively making the internet an Orwellian nightmare (which I personally wouldn't want). With this massive headwind, it makes making decent quality records an even bigger gamble than before (gulp!), which is a choice for any band to make in today's climate. It's pretty ironic that the same people who won't buy your CD are the first to point out how crap they think the artwork / production are, you wonder how they think these things are paid for!
I won't ask you not to download any of our music; that's your personal choice and it's not for me to command anyone in this situation.
However, interestingly since I started this thread a 'solution' or sorts has appeared (at least in respect of Mithras).
What I will politely ask everyone to do INSTEAD of downloading our albums illegally (or advising their friends to do so) is to go onto MyspaceMusic or Spotify where you can now listen to our albums in their entirety for free (so the listener gets a full preview of the entire album without actually owning our final product). I wasn't actually aware that we were available on said sites until I stumbled upon it, Candlelight are exploring every avenue with their back catalogue now (obviously to combat illegal downloads).
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