> In general, audiences have NO idea how much time, effort, etc. it takes to produce decent work.
I stopped listening to commercial music and watching commercial movies when industries started suing private individuals. I was surprised how easy it was. The only time I hear or see commercial content is when it is pushed on me through advertising and other expensive marketing techniques. I wish hollywood and big distribution would vanish tomorrow. Do you really think that talented artists would simply disappear and stop producing quality work if they're wasnt the possiblity of becoming a star behind it? Nonsense. Art is from the heart. I hear quality all the time from local street buskers and playing in bars in my city. Everywhere in the world there is great quality work that is having money taking out of there mouths by big industry who would rather have a huge fan base for a minimal set of artists. The reason it costs so much to produce what you consider 'decent work' is because that is what you have been convinced to believe. Quality is not expensive, and yet its rarely paid because most of the money is being funnelled through distribution companies who simply cannot possibly handle the many millions of people around the world who deserve a piece of the entertainment revenue pie.
I listen to Jamendo, Soundcloud and CCmixter. I watch videos on youtube and vimeo. I am entertained. So when megaupload was taken down... for me it had nothing to do with losing the ability to break someone's copyright, but rather it was simply another example of big distribution shutting down an alternate channel of distribution.
For me, the sooner distribution companies die, the better. They have no purpose anymore because distribution costs are $0. We all pay for distribution ourselves when we pay our ISP for bandwidth. The only remaining purpose for distribution companies is to sue for their lives in order to limit the number of artists who receive income for their work.