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Artists don't need them any more. THAT is what they are really afraid of. Any artist or band that wants to distribute their music to the whole planet no longer needs an industry group or a record company to do it.

Sorry, but songwriters need groups like this more than ever.

First, yes, you can now independently distribute your music to the world if you wish. But how exactly will you make a living that way, much less make enough to pay off the investment in college (do you realize that many composers and songwriters actually have degrees in music? No, really!) or the decades of practice to learn the craft in the first place.

Second, with music so easy to steal, and such a casual attitude toward stealing music to use in your own businesses, ASCAP is definitely desired by musicians. That's why musicians join -- it is member-supported, you know....

First, yes, you can now independently distribute your music to the world if you wish. But how exactly will you make a living that way...

I don't disagree. There's lots of people trying to figure out how to make a living off the Internet and widely distributable content. That's exactly the problem. The problem is we have a business model that is still trying to work in an age where they can no longer control the medium of exchange. That's just plain doomed, for right or wrong. If they're going to survive, somehow the model needs to change.

Here's another way to look at it: Maybe due to distribution necessities, and other market and industry forces of the past, musicicians have been able to take advantage of these forces and leverage their labor into monumentally outrageous sums of money that was merely the luck of the draw. A few managed to work this system into many millions of dollars, and *good* for them. They were in the right place at the right time. No blood, no foul.

But is the multimillion dollar payment really a *right*? Well... no... only in so much as the market is willing to bear the price. Is Eminem really so wonderfully talented that his labors should result in a life of wealth for producing one measly little album? Say what you like... but the guy is no Mozart.

I'm not even trying to say that good marketing shouldn't be allowed to substitute for talent every now and then. That's not what I'm all about. What I'm trying to say is this: Maybe some artists are only now finding out what their product is worth.