http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4251934.stm

Its amazing how out-of-touch music marketing agencies are over here.

It's amazing how out of touch the music industry is, period. A new method of reaching potentially thousands of new fans (downloading), and they go and scream bloody murder...

Can you imagine what might have been if the music companies had jumped on the Napster bandwagon and used it to distribute songs from their artists on a trial basis?

Hey, if someone sends me a free CD, I'll listen to it. Ground-level / word of mouth promotion is some of the best free press you can get. Even if just a small percentage of the people targeted enjoy the music and take it upon themselves to spread the word, it can still have an impressive effect. Especially among easily impressionable crowds, who will lap up whatever others think is cool.