It seems the music industry doesn’t even care about making or promoting good music any more. On the odd occasion that something fresh and new accidentally slips through and gets radio play, the music industry immediately signs a seemingly infinite number of clone bands that makes the “new, fresh” sound boring almost instantly. For years, they have been marketing recycled crap, and people are getting tired of it. In the meantime, the music industry itself needs to recognize that they are to blame for sagging record sales. But for every CD that I didn’t buy based on those premises, there are 2 or 3 other CDs that I did buy because I heard of them for the first time on a site like Demonoid. Downloading has certainly stopped me from making the stupid purchases where I heard one single that I liked and bought an entire album only to find out that the rest of the songs are crap, and the CD sits collecting dust on my shelf. I won’t be so naïve as to say that internet downloading has no impact on the sales. The industry cries that record sales are down, and blames this all on internet downloading. What I do like, I buy, or at least I used to, before your decision intended to stop me from hearing new music. I listen to some things that I don’t like, and consequently, I don’t buy those albums. Now, many years removed from school, my “gang” of friends to share music with has shifted from cassette tapes and the school cafeteria to sharing mp3’s online. From listening to this music, I can make an informed decision if I wish to purchase the album or not, as I am not going to gamble $15-20 on something that I haven’t heard anything off of before.Ģ5 years ago, I primarily learned about music from friends who dubbed a copy onto a cassette tape, where I could listen to it and make a decision if I wanted to buy the tape for myself. I can listen to music from artists that have never been played on the radio, will never be shown on MuchMusic or MTV, and never have a review or even mention of their new album written about in the local newspaper. I can find out about new artists and new releases from artists that are never promoted. Sites such as Demonoid have done far more to promote the music I love than your organization or the industry in general has ever done. I listen to heavy metal music, a form of music that “the industry” stopped supporting many years ago, so I have a hard time feeling any sympathy. However, thanks to your recent decision to block Canadian users from accessing Demonoid, I have decided that I cannot continue to support this backwards, dysfunctional industry with my money any longer, and as such, I do not plan on purchasing music ever again if it means that one penny goes to your organization. I purchase approximately 30-40 new CDs per year. I have been an avid music collector for many years, and have approximately 1000 CD’s in my collection, not counting albums that I have purchased over the internet and own only digital copies of.