I spent most of my life wishing that I had the creativity and talent to be a musician, but I have spent the last five years thanking the Almighty that I don't have to make a living as a music artist.

I joke, of course, but who would have ever imagined it would be like this.  The RIAA continues to win huge dollar amounts in court cases, though we've started to see class-action lawsuits that may end up reversing the tide.

-Political Parties have sprung up based on the right to piracy and seem to have gained significant support.  It's a bizarre time for the music industry.  Hell, even Lars Ulrich downloads now. 

Are you a hero to the masses if you are Radiohead and you offer the fans to name their own price: or are you really (as Sonic Youth argues) just making it tougher for everyone else?

I don't know that I know the answer.  How do bands make enough to quit their day jobs these days?

The only thing I can think of- you steal credit cards and then use them to buy your songs on iTunes and Amazon!

Oh, sure you can campaign radio stations to pay musicians more royalties, but at the end of the day, how do you know they won't just stop playing your music.

So, things are bad for musicians and the record business now. 

Right?

Fans downloading albums for free instead of buying them from the big box store.

The Fleet Foxes say no.  They think the current climate makes things better.

How about the suits, though?  Surely for all their whining, they're losing money had over fist.  What with youtube, torrents, file sharing blogs, CD/DVD burners, and all...

Not according to this report that ran in The Guardian last week.

The Gaming industry that cries the loudest has more than doubled their revenues in the last ten years.  DVD sales have doubled, and the music industry is only slightly down (which may just mean we buy only songs now, and not those albums with one good song and a bunch of filler like we used to).