free market or regulated music?

[Jeff House <jjthandmeh@juno.com>]

keets  "The problem with buying boots is that you're taking royalties
away from some artist (or artist's estate).  I this case that's likely to
be Mandy Moon.  If you trade, you can at least say there's no monetary
exchange, which is what royalties are generally paid from."

Now this sounds like the beginnings of a thread where we could pit the
Libertarians against the Liberals and Conservatives and call it
Who-related.  <sinister laugh>  

What about for-profit-manufacturers and sellers (like independent music
stores) of booted material?  Where do they fall on the morality and
responsibility scale?  Is it really morality we're talking about or
self-interest and rationalizations?

I believe that the little guy (in this case - the consumer) is never to
blame and should not be held responsible for simply buying material that
they want.  It is the responsiblity of the manufacturers and dealers to
adhere to laws (and what is right) and pay the price when they profit and
screw artists out of royalties.

Jeff