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@Ed_Von_P
Perhaps Hamster, but if you look at the economics and downward trends of the last few years there has been a major shortfall that has not been made up by sales of merch or tickets, and promoters don't develop acts in the same way record companies do, new bands and artists still need advances and A&R development to be able to get the most out of what they do, often these bands wouldn't be able to make music and develop a fan base without that support.
BlueQuinn, that's not really true and is a major generalisation. I work with everyday and small artists on a day to day basis that receive royalties, not many royalties these days, but they need them to survive. In fact many more would be able to devote their time to writing and recording if the general public understood that they should be rewarded for their work, instead of working 9 to 5 jobs to pay the bills and have music as a hobby.
It seems like everyone has the argument that giving away something for free is great PR because then someone will buy something... To a certain degree yes, if it's a concious decision by the artist, but when songs are raped from the artist without their permission and on a huge scale it is not a fair system. You wouldn't argue that a painter should allow people to steal his paintings in order that the theives friends might see the painting and encourage them to buy one...
Anyway, I'm really not trying to have a rant or tell you that you're bad people, because you're not, you're just music fans, however I did want to just suggest that sharing the songs further might be adding to a problem that will affect us all in the long run.
I talk at many events and give guest lectures at universities about the future of music, when I can find the time, because I'm passionate about it and honestly care about good music being made and shared. So I'm happy to have a friendly pint at some point and discuss the merits of both arguments as I recognise a forum isn't the best medium for such a discussion. : )