Shoutbox

They are not being greedy.... (the people who download illegal are greedy)
And it certainly doesn't make them a lot of money...

But...
Many artists are happy that their music is spread in that way, but at the same time they aren't happy about the fact that people will download their songs without paying, because all in all, they ARE loosing money because of it! (and you can argue about the costs of CD's, about your principles, etc... all ya want, that doesn't change the fact that artists loose money because of the illegal downloads).

On the other hand, big artists, don't need that kind of spreading/promotion anymore and they don't have anything to gain  about the whole thing...

And this trend can be seen more and more btw: Small artists often put there songs on the net, because it IS a good place to promote. Although many people will take advantage of it, the true fan will buy the CD nevertheless. But big artists often don't do it anymore, because they don't need that kind of promotion anymore....


Thus...

Money and promotion aren't the same! You can make a lot of promotion, but loose a lot of money at the same time. And this is certainly true on the net.

The idea that if you make enough promotion you will make enough money is a bit utopian...