I heard today that Radiohead’s old record label:Parlophone is releasing a best of album and it got me thinking about all this illegal downloading of music hoopla.

It seems that labels and bands are really battling to make money these days, and with the fact that illegal downloading of music is so prevalent the music industry has been really battling to keep their profits alive. The music industry is changing with the major availability of free music downloads online.

So I say: keep changing.

For the past few years I have been saying that bands are going to have to change the way they make money. I really don’t think they will be able to stop all of the illegal downloading of music, so they should just roll with it. Like most people I am an advocate of the prospect of free music. Lots of bands now are offering their singles and albums as free downloads, which is a major step in the right direction. Sure bands will loose a lot of profit from album sales, but they can surely make it up in other areas.

This trend of downloading music off of the internet will benefit the fans in the long run. If a band cannot make money from album sales any longer they will have to figure out a new way to monetize, or work harder at current avenues of income.

Such as touring.

This is my theory: If you want to see your favourite bands live, more often. You need to start downloadiong even more of their music. This loss in sales will force bands to tour more often to make up for the lost of album sales. Sure it’s a kick in the junk, but like I said earlier: the music industry is changing. It’s now time to head to a site like Mp3Rocket.com , sign up and start downloading.

Of course free music downloading can also help new bands. I was talking to Ryan McCullagh of The Paper Cranes today and he said that if it weren’t for free music downloads they would have much less of a fan base than they do now. To me free music means that more people will be introduced to bands, and with more fans, more tickets sales for when they tour. It makes sense to me.

I don’t think that this illegal downloading of music will have a negative impact on bands if they look at this situation from a different perspective. Business models change all the time, musicians will just have to deal with it