It all depends on the scale of what's happening, doesn't it? If I manufacture 1,000 CDs and sell enough to break even, or even go into a small or large profit, then I'm not going to be too unhappy about viral marketing, and might even welcome it - but if I'm only known in a small area and still struggling to cover the costs and then find that my fans and supporters are showing their enthusiasm by reducing my potential market and burning copies of the album then it's a rather different story. I'd rather they showed their support by playing the CD and suggesting their friends might like to buy a copy as well. In fact, even if I was making a profit I'd prefer that to happen, and it's what I, personally, do when I'm recommending music to my own friends. The cost of a CD direct from an artist isn't enormous, in the great scale of things.

A lot also depends on how many interests are involved. I can make decisions simply as I write, perform, produce and distribute my own material, but if there are other writers, other performers, other producers and other record companies involved it becomes a huge can of worms.

I'm doing the MySpace, Facebook, Last.fm and indiestore stuff - so far I can't say it's made a huge difference to my overall sales and gig list, but then maybe no one likes me ....*sniff*

Anne