You know, Lemur has a valid point. As somebody who makes their living from intellectual property, I have pretty strong feelings on this issue. That being said, you hate to see an industry as blazenly crooked and corrupt as the recording industry be the ones to take advantage of case law. Then again, what is 'ripping artists off'? In semiconductors, for example, the engineers that design a chip and it's supporting hardware rarely see a small fraction of the financial rewards a successful product may generate for the company as a whole. Are we being ripped off? I'd say no, as I entered the agreement fully aware of the potential downside. If the recording industry misrepresents their interests to their artists, then the artist should get themself a good contract attorney and seek justice there. Encouraging their fans to 'screw the label' is not the right answer, lawlessness never is.
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