Great article on why downloading music is a good thing for the artist. One of the best and most comprehensive articles on the subject that I have read to date. Its main point is that downloading needs to be embraced and I have to say that I agree.

There's a provocative piece on P2P.com regarding piracy and on-line distribution titled "Piracy Is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution," by Tim O'Reilly. His article discusses a number of subjects, including:

Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.
Piracy is progressive taxation.
Customers want to do the right thing, if they can.
Shoplifting is a bigger threat than piracy.
File-sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing, they threaten existing publishers.
"Free" is eventually replaced by a higher-quality paid service.