And boy, that rant was filled to the brim with human anger.
Still, the chap is broadly right: artists (in this case, musicians) need to get paid, just like everyone else.
The gist of his complaint is that although the majors -- and their physical-media based distro system -- were far, far (so very far) from perfect and filled with exploitation points, Internet based distro is oddly worse.
Worse, because the share of filthy lucre is smaller, distribution outlets are fewer and more tightly controlled, freetards want free stuff and it's just generally tougher for people who're starting out to establish themselves (btw, this isn't true for all genres - electronica, often ignored or back cataloged by majors, thrives in the Internet space).
He's on target when he shakes his old man stick at the freetards (listen, I know he isn't an old man, that's hyperbole). But he wildly misses the mark when he insists that people love CDs:
"Music lovers have CD collections, not hard-drives full of shit they never listen to."
This is spectacularly wrong. Digital music became popular because it gives us the ability to create play lists *built from singles*. If "Womanizier" is the only tune you like from Brit Spear's CD release, that's the tune you'll buy, mixing it with whatever else you fancy on a burned CD-RW and/or portable player.
He pushes this price fixation further a line or two later when he writes:
"Don’t tell me you can’t afford to buy CDs. My entire collection is worth less than your phone and laptop."
It isn't price alone -- or freetardiness - that drove large numbers of people from CDs, it's the fact that you may not like an entire disk's worth of an artist's music. But maybe one or two songs stand out for you.
By stamping his foot about CD pricing and the awfulness of people buying music via iTunes he not only demonstrates a cracked (and really, dated) understanding of the source of digital music's strength he also yells at his audience for paying for his music using the 'wrong' method.
Which is kinda ass backwards.
Listen, I'm sure he's a smart and well meaning cat but that rant is all over the place.
I suppose that's why they call it a rant.
.d.