The problem with this argument is most 'file sharers' don't care about the artists. I mean, there are tons of services for people who want to try things out cheaply without stealing(emusic, fairtunes,etc). A few people are ethical downloaders and will just try it out, but the problem is that the thousands of people who are just freeriding are ruining this for the people who do this. They go steal tons of stuff and then say they didn't want it, as if that makes it alright. The problem is that there's no way that the decent file sharers can be differentated from people who just think stealing is kewl, every1's doing it! I wonder if this is subject to the 80/20 rule(20% of the downloaders do 80% of the downloading) or not.

Maybe taxes are the way for everyone to be happy. Artists and all others in the music industry would get paid, people would have the superfical freedom to steal,etc. You know, I think I'm for this, except for I have to think about it.