Fleetwood Mac singer complains the Internet has made it impossible for new bands to make it these days, and that if they don’t have a hit single their record label will drop them.

There’s been no shortage of opinions on the issue of downloading music. From average citizens to activists to labels to mainstream to small time artists, just everyone affected by the music industry has an opinion on the digital environment.

If you’ve been around the copyright debate for a while, chances are, you’ve heard the labels in the debate argue over and over that the artists deserve to be paid.

Prince shunned digital retailers like Apple’s iTunes for not “paying him in advance” and opted instead to distribute free copies of 20Ten with various European newspapers and magazines.

Claim RK Netmedia and RealityKings have been illegally using copyrighted material for the background music of a number of pornographic videos. The music industry is leaving no stone unturned in its battle against copyright infringement, reportedly targeting Miami-based RK Netmedia and RealityKings.

Loreena McKennitt says the creative community isn’t creative enough to figure out how to distribute music online without risking failure to recoup its investment, and that when you buy a CD all you’re buying is a license to listen to it.

Shuns online distribution of upcoming “20Ten album” amid complaints that Apple’s iTunes won’t pay him an advance for it. Says the Internet’s become “outdated” and that PCs and digital gadgets “can’t be good for you.

Creates “Music Rights Now” campaign to encourage the public to lobby their elected officials for stronger protections of Intellectual Property rights, citing countries like New Zealand, South Korea, France and the UK – all countries with “three-strikes” legislation R

Sends the search engine giant a DMCA complaint asking that it quit “providing search results directly linking to the website for the illegal file-sharing service” that is the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay.

Illegal file-sharing spreads from computers to Google’s Android OS-based smartphones, making the music industry’s anti-piracy efforts that much harder.

Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said they fell by their lowest amount in five years helped, in part, by a lower average album price that has dipped below £8 ($11.90 USD) for the first time.

Forthcoming second album “Congratulations” appears on BitTorrent tracker sites everywhere well ahead of its official April 13th release date, and unable to respond by offering it as a free download decides to stream it on its website instead.

Use BitTorrent to download all of the MP3 files publicly available on the SXSW website as of March 6, 2010. It’s that time of year again with the 2010 SXSW music festival fast approaching.

RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol makes the extraordinary leap in thought by comparing hacker attempts to steal source code and spy on the gMail accounts of human rights activists to the RIAA’s battle with illegal P2P.

NPD Group claims 24 million fewer people bought music in 2009, and that more troublingly, despite a decrease in the amount of music files being shared on P2P networks, the number of people buying digital music declined as well.

Says legal action is not the best first contact with alleged illegal file-sharers, and that it should be “reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders.

After having offered to settle the case with Jammie Thomas for as little as $25,000, down from the $1.92 million original verdict, and from the most recent $54,000 judgment reduction on appeal.

Angry royalty groups demand monthly fee for listening to music with customers, tell customers to bring iPods instead. Hairdressers in Spain have decided to protest a recent crackdown by royalty collecting groups there by silencing their salons and urging customers to bring in their iPods instead.

Criticizes Pharrell Williams’ stance on illegal file-sharing, and insists that it can be stopped if only we would “take the gloves off.

Tells audience at MIDEM, the world’s largest music industry trade fair, that technology has increased consumer options and choices and that record labels are to blame for its struggles with digital music for trying to ignore it.