I downloaded 15 songs that I never would have bought otherwise – 13 of them from artists I’d never heard of, but want to hear more of.

They just. Don’t. Get it.

Good luck with the station. I’ve heard about it.

This whole thing saddens me. I’m Chair of Salaam Shalom – the UK’s first Muslim/Jewish radio station which is online only. We are able to gain a licence at reasonable cost because we ONLY broadcast only and it allows us to play a range of music. We’re lucky.

I think the industry has got itself into a bind that it can’t extricate itself from. Because of past history, and their high-handed, profiteering approach they are now unable to turn to their one major ally – the consumer. They have got a massive amount of bridge-building to do, but with the right approach they could start educating consumers as to why artists should be paid for their music and where the money actually goes.

The reality is, rather than closing down Pandora, AllofMP3 and others that are acting “illegally”, why not work with them. Sure, I’d be prepared to pay another 25 or 50 cents on top of my download fee for each album in royalty payments. I’d even be prepared to pay 50 cents a week to listen to the radio (it’s cheaper than my TV licence!!). It’s still cheap at twice the price and I know the artist and composers are getting paid.

More importantly, as you point out, I’m going to be coming back, listening to and maybe downloading new bands that I wouldn’t normally try, and even contacting friends to say “listen to this”. Why is the industry so short-sighted? There’s enough there for everyone and the whole world isn’t going to stop buying CDs or whatever the latest hardware becomes.