Z:gnu-www-ja-dat--3db8c3-Record companies do provide a/en

Record companies do provide a useful service: they distribute prerecorded copies of music, usually of high quality. This service is widely used, and will probably remain so. And it is right that the purchasers of prerecorded copies should pay for this service. But listeners making copies for themselves or their friends do not consume this service; they use only the work of the musicians and composers. The record companies contribute only incidentally and their role is not essential.