Theft in the Music Industry is a good thing...?

The Music industry's sales are gradually decreasing, which isn't a shocking concept as music can be downloaded from a plethora of different P2P engines, but is this such a bad thing? Initially, most would answer yes, as people are stealing from the artists who put their time and effort into making the music that people love. Ethically, morally, and legally, we shouldn't be taking from people what isn't ours...
However, why should we give vasts amounts of money to individuals who are often driven by money more than true artistry? Indeed, it's a somewhat fallacious argument, as people could justify artistry in almost anything. I do think, that looking at the record sales and the gross revenue of some of the "greatest" artists ever is a little ridiculous. Michael Jackson, considered the King of Pop, has sold an estimated 500 million records worldwide, and had he charged a minimal $3 a CD or DVD, he'd have grossed over 1.5 billion dollars; simple math. If one were to include concert sales and merchandise, Jackson could gross even more money for his record company, making them happy individuals. The point is, Jackson has shown that sales can reflect effort, however, I think that the people should act as a buffer to the large amounts of sales of an artist.
For an example, if I were to download any CD that I think is worth buying, I would save myself a good amount of money, and I would also limit the amount of money that any individual artist could make off of a CD. Also, I could find what I think is deserving of my money, as artists that I think put more than enough effort into the music that they produced should get my hard earned money.
A person's outlook on whether or not a musical act is true artistry is subjective, and I think it's a beautiful concept because people could then pay for CD's that contain what they feel is "real music" and download ones that are mediocre. Should an act prove to be considered a real artist by a large number of people, then the act can survive the horrendous record sales as of late. In this way, we, as a people, could weed out the artists we feel are, frankly, inadequate. Although this is a great theory, we as a people have a different tastes quite as unique as each other.
In my opinion, artists that deserve to have their CD's purchased (top ten) are:
-The Eagles
-HURT
-Marilyn Manson
-Norah Jones
-Sara Bareillis
-Metallica
-Amy Winehouse
-Arcade Fire
-Imogen Heap
-Modest Mouse

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