Music File Swapping

I just read an article on NewsFactor about the RIAAs efforts to stop pirating of music: RIAA Legal Tactics Scare File-Swappers

From the comments of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) representative it sounds like the EFF supports the pirates, not surprising when you consider their history of supporting copyright thieves.

I have friends who are musicians and writers and when someone copies (steals) a song my friends don't get paid anything for their creativity. The consequences are that they can't make a living from playing and writing and so they have to do something else and they don't create more music.

Now I'm not talking about big names or big stars, the kind of people who make millions, I'm talking about the people who make up the majority of the music industry - the people who make an average living playing in bands and writing songs. They don't make millions, they make about the same as the rest of us working at a 9 to 5 job.

So think of it this way, when you "swap" (steal) a song you just prevented another song from being created. Swap enough songs and there won't be any more new music.