Although this has been debated ad-nauseum for a couple of years, I'll recount a little story told by a friend of mine fairly recently. He posted this publicly on a Canadian forum called "Maplepost", but since I'm paraphrasing, (and haven't asked permission to tell his story) I'll leave his name out.

He tours for a living. Small concerts, at reasonably small money (compared to Airport security staff!) and needs to sell a lot of CDs at each venue to survive. He's VERY influential as an instrumentalist, and finds that a great many folks in his audience also play in his style. More and more folks are coming up to him after the show, showering him with compliments....and wanting to show him how well they can play his stuff....which they've downloaded off the net. Not only are they completely cheerful about where they heard his music.....but they often ask "If you've got an album that I CAN"T download, I'll buy it"!!

He's a pretty easy going guy, and I guess he explains to them why he'll probably not be able to afford to tour anymore, but my guess is, that they don't have a clue what they've done to his career. Should they even care? Is it THEIR responsibility? Would it even matter to them if they NEVER saw him live again....as long as they can parrot the tablature, and hear all his tunes for free?

It used to be that an album meant that you were a skilled enough performer to be noticed (and invested in) by more than just your immediate circle. A good album could get you paying gigs....and you might scratch a living from them. Today ANYONE can make an album with minimal cost and minimal ability.....and a club owner or Festival A.D. will have to wade through hundreds of submissions....and chances are by the time they get to a 'good one' they may be too desensitized to recognize the difference.

God knows, I've probably missed several fine performers over the last while who've sent albums for radio play on my show, simply because of the volume of submissions.

Truthfully I think the term "professional" folk singer will have gone the way of the dodo bird within a very few years. (save for those folks who made their reputations 20 or more years ago....or those who are sexy enough to warrant mainstream marketing money) Napster et al may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back.....because if you're gonna ask people to use "the honour system", you'd better start lookin' for a job outside live performing right now.

The question that I've always had was "What are ya gonna do to punish the kid who downloads (say) Harvey's songs and says 'hey, this is cooool, I'll share it with all my friends"? Take away their allowance? Put 'em in a Turkish Prison?

It all boils down to what percentage of your income can you afford to lose....and still stay in the pickin' and singin' game.

Rick