Spinachy: "the intended Folk demographic for such product is too anally retentive to break the law, and those who do break the law wouldn't have bought it anyway"

I have been told by certain younger folk artists that their CD sales have taken a hammering as a result of downloading. You have to remember that not every folk fan is middle aged or older - younger fans who are more conversant with the "download culture" don't necessarily see the difference between downoading a major label release and downloading a CD effectively produced by a cottage industry, and if they can get something for free, they'll take it and spend the money on something else instead (probably some music that isn't so easy to find for free). So I see a definite correlation between making these albums available on the net and the reduction in sales for a certain type of folk artist. But the "wouldn't have bought it anyway" argument certainly justifies a multitude of sins, doesn't it?

Spleen: If I'm mistaken, then I apologise. I clicked on a download to see if the link worked and something started to download, at which point I aborted it. But the issue of why these albums were uploaded in the first place, and the morality of it, and the fact that the onus is still on the artist or label to find out about it and ask for it to be taken down after the horse has bolted, as it were, seems to be the bigger issue here.