In reply to:

. Production costs aside, the cost of each song is not equal in the eyes of the artist. The cost of a full CD is often times made up in 2 or 3 songs out of 12. The artist doesn't expect you to like them all. The artist expects to get paid for the 2 or 3 songs you enjoy (and the cost of the CD is arguably based around that...

Ok, if the value of of different songs varies then that can be the case if you sell them individually. Also, I expect the cost of one song to be proportionally more expensive than the CD it is on. When you buy a large quantity you always get a better value, but I still dont go out and buy the more cost effective 2L when I just want a 20oz soda. This unproportional pricing would make sense because it would encourage people to buy the CD. This is essential to get exposure for songs that aren't played on the radio because although you buy a cd for 3 songs, and there are a couple you hate, there will be some that you discover that you like. But if you like 3 songs this makes sense and I would buy the cd for the expectation of liking other songs. However if there is only 1 song I like on it, particularly if I am familiar with other songs from the artist and know that I don't like their usually style of music and the likelyhood of liking any more than 1 song per cd is low, then it isn't value of the lower cost per song isn't worth the cost of the CD. Multiply this by a taste is music that feels this way about several hundred artists.

I read Lars's interview on SlashDot and I feel that he makes a very valid and good argument about the necessity of the record companies. It may be true that any unknown band can now produce there music and distribute it as mp3's without a record deal, but that does you no good if people dont listen to it. I don't get any music from mp3.com or eMusic because I dont know any of those artists. The record companies are essential for promoting music to get me interested, and because of this I dont mind that they have a cut of the money which I am more than happy to pay.