Musical downloads -- free & low cost promotion for musicians!

Musical downloads -- free & low cost promotion for musicians!: "Music Downloads: Free & Low Cost Ways For Musicians To Get Their Music Known All Over The World

Music downloads are highly compressed audio files transferred onto a personal computer from an Internet website or P2P (peer to peer) program. It's a trend reaching nearly epidemic proportions; music downloads are everywhere. Websites all over the Internet offer music downloads of particularly rare or hard-to-find songs, and computer-savvy music fans have been known to spend hours searching through the mountains of downloadable material. They also function as a godsend for new or underground musicians; who needs a record label when strategically placed music downloads alone can garner you a dedicated following? Even cell-phone companies have grabbed themselves a piece of the pie by offering music downloads that serve as ring tones. The sound quality is often superior, the P2P programs easy to use -- music downloads are one of those rare pop-culture phenomena embraced by nearly everyone.
But despite (or perhaps because of) their overwhelming popularity, music downloads have stirred quite the controversy. Many P2P programs allowing users to transfer music directly between computers offer music downloads for free, much to the chagrin of several recording artists and labels. Fearful of losing money to music fans downloading the songs instead of buying the full record, bands and labels have set out to stop the users from obtaining their music from free programs. A virtual witch-hunt for frequent downloaders and the threat of lawsuits led many P2P programs to begin charging for their services, though several sneak under the wire by making that payment optional.
The ethical implications involved in free music downloads are complicated. Some vehemently rail against the practice,"