[AlanG]

4."I've heard artists claim that making their music available to download for free is the best way to get themselves heard, in that way promoting their music and boosting their sales."

We support the use of promotional material made available for free download - but only where the artists and other rights holders have authorised it for this purpose. This must be a choice that they make, not one forced upon them by others.
Making music available on the internet is a really exciting development for artists. The net can be a great tool for new acts who wish to drum up interest in their work.
then why is this not made clear in the rest of the "myths". Piracy is made interreplacable with "free download", it is groups like Pro-Music who are blurring the distinction and trying to scare people that free=illegal.

It isn't true that making music 'free' will always promote the sales of that track or album, however. In fact research shows that downloading and burning is substituting sales significantly more than they are promoting them. Research in markets around the world shows that one third of active file-sharers spend less on music since they started getting it for free.
so presumably 2/3rds are either spending the same or are spending more, as this is the majority the research shows that downloading at the very least sustains sales with those who are fans of the artists and will continue to support them during the "poor first album sales" as mentioned before.

Most artists are happy for consumers to download their music - when it's legitimate and with their consent. And those who want to disseminate their music for free have the choice to do so.
Except when propaganda campaigns try to claim that downloading=illegal.

MP3.com, for example, contains thousands of songs by aspiring artists - although it is a question how many artists, if any, have been able to embark on a career just using the internet. The fact is that most people who go online to download are much more likely to go for known artists - even if new to them - rather than complete unknowns.
first of all dont even mention mp3.com or dont you keep up with the news. The second is again an attempt to confuse the reader.
"most people who go online to download are much more likely to go for known artists" that is the most redundant statement these bigwigs have come out with. If the artist were not "known to you" then how would you know to download them or even if they exist? And even if they are unknown to you the second you find them in any search they suddenly become known.

It is those who think that they have the right to 'share' music illegally with millions of individuals without having paid for it that are damaging the music industry, and as a consequence are threatening the careers of budding artists before they even begin.
On the contrary it is the churning out of media friendly garbage and lack of variety on radio/music tv stations that are making people go online to search for music that interests them.

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5. "The real problem is that the music industry wants to stop the advance of technology."

Technology is not the enemy of music - quite the reverse. There has always been a healthy relationship between advances in technology and the music business: from the Edison cylinder, through vinyl, tape, and the CD, to the MP3 file.
unfortunately bold is the strongest I can use to emphasise LIES. When radio shows wanted to play music the industry went in a strop claiming that it would stop people paying to see live shows. Before MP3 it was "home taping will kill music" from people taping off the radio.

One true claim is that the music industry supported CD. But then the reason for this was obvious. Bring in music only on a new format and people are forced to buy it on this format and may then replace their old collection on it. This was aided by the big 5 telling retailers they would no longer do "sale or return" on vinyl. Retailers then in turn didnt want to risk losing money on vinyl so drastically cut support of it in stores and started buying a vast majority of albums in on CD.

The impact of digital technology has opened doors for artists and many others involved in music; allowing more experimentation and sophisticated home recording, online real time musical collaborations, webcasts, enhanced sound - and the ability to share all that with a wider global audience.

The music industry will always make use of new technology - for example Super Audio CDs and DVD Audio, as well as the opportunities that new 3G phones bring. Technology is also helping the industry to transfer thousands of tracks in artists' back catalogues into digital format.

But while the methods of recording or distribution might change, what doesn't is that artists and those who work with them depend upon copyright and getting paid for their livelihood.
replace this with "all the leeches involved in releasing an album bar the artists wont make money if the consumers choose downloading"