Wow shannon, you really hit that nail right on the head. And you also pretty much summed up the feelings I've been having about the RIAA(and their enthusiasts) in general lately.

What we really need is a more techological approach to the music industry in general, allowing the artists to organize their own advertising, without having to pay an arm and a leg for it. Then they actually have the power to negotiate contracts with publishing agents if they so wish.

As to the industry losing money to mp3 users, i don't think this is the case because i know that a lot of people like myself wouldn't be buying the music anyway, even if it wasn't available for download, simply because we don't have the money for it. So it's not like they are losing any money from me(or others like me), anyway.

The industry officials are the ones who seriously rip off the artists, as outlined by Courtney Love in a recent article. Even with selling a million albums, the artists themselves make a pittance compared to actual sales, simply because of the contracts forced down their throats by the labels.

So I say support mp3's, and support the creation of an artist-driven rather than label-driven music industry.