Usual arguments. For years, the music industry tried to kill downloadable recordings completely. Then Apple showed it was possible to make money from them. But for the majority of the industry, it was a bit late. A generation had grown up illegally downloading music, while imbibing the milk of (richly merited) hatred for the big music firms, & determination not to give them money. That determination has been reinforced by the behaviour of said corporations: bullying, shameless political lobbying, threats, lies . . .
I wholeheartedly agree that authors, whether of words or music, should get paid. But a proper, decent, copyright system would require that copyright, once sold on, can not be extended. This would not adversely affect authors or their heirs, but those (mostly large corporations) who buy up copyrights, then lobby for the law to change to make their property more valuable (see the US Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998, AKA the Mickey Mouse Protection Act).
BTW, I tend not to download music. The quality! And I like books. Real books.
Something else - I remember that someone pointed out a couple of years ago that average sales per CD title were rising, while total sales were dropping. Music publishers weren't releasing as many titles, & were culling old, slow-selling titles. It'd be interesting to see recent figures. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's still happening. I've been trying for a few years to get hold of copies of some music I only have on old LPs, but it seems the pieces I want aren't for sale, anywhere, at any price. Hey! You! Mr. Music Publisher! I want to buy some CDs! Why won't you sell them? I'll pay for downloads, if you'll sell me decent quality recordings. Please . . . .
