Dear Bob in St. Louis,
I must say that your handling of this topic has exemplary honesty. I'm glad you are our moderator.
I have personal gripes about people illegally copying material. As a writer, I have this happen all the time, and it involves lost income. For years now I've refused to tape music, copy CDs, etc. This all stemmed from a conversation with Walter Klien, the pianist from Vienna, who earnestly told me how this practice hurt him financially. I have since followed my conscience with regard to what he told me.
I think recording artists have a right to make what little money they can from their recordings. At present, the only way to make money as a musician is to tour. Recordings do not make money; they lose money. Only one musician in the entire world is making money from recordings. All the rest lose money with their recordings. This artist? Well, the one genre of music which loses the most money with recordings is classical music, and yet this one artist who makes money from recordings is a classical musician. I might suggest that people play a guessing game on this matter, but I'm sure their smartphones would answer the question immediately. The one artist who makes money from recordings is Maria Callas. She died in 1977, so a lot of good that does her.
Thank you again, Bob, for being our steward, and in so doing, being a steward with a stalwart conscience.
Best,
Francis Baumli