So if fans are just going to steal the music an artist invests time, money and effort into creating then what’s the point of catering to them? It’s not like the fans actually own the music when they buy it on iTunes or pay to stream it on demand anyways. If digital music is just about exposure (illegally downloaded or otherwise), getting paid an advance by the streaming service itself seems like a pretty good deal to me. You do have a point about the up and coming inde artists getting jerked around by the “surprise” factor… I’m interested to see what artists and managers come up with to stake their claim on the ever expansive internet-music landscape.