however if you know what you are capable of…
for instance a much larger scale, depending what you would believe, they still didn’t randomly commission Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel.
and now at the lowest level of art, it is still work, is this work sanctioned off into frivolous endeavors?
no, it is a piece of work developed as a social & cultural experience, deserving monetary gain to a capable artist.
for the sake of analysis
let’s speak of something somewhat parallel, that is generally & currently impervious to piracy.
sporting events & sports.
I at the most have no interest in sports and such, but the model they created is standing the test of time.
Again I fail to see a valid comparison. The closest this can be is a metaphor, but a metaphor to what exactly? Where do you drive this point back to music? Sporting achievement is quite measurable as in any competition, whereas art is a matter of pure personal oppinion, and as such is as easily influenced as any other uninformed opinion with regards to the general public (ie, those without a vested interest in artistic endeavour). Also, with regards to knowing what one is worth… Allow me to digress to illustrate a point: Through no will of my own, where I work the radio is permanently tuned to the latest “pop” tunes, and I can say without a shadow of doubt in my mind, from both a technical and creative standpoint, there is nothing new nor particularly skillful about anything being pushed by the major labels other than perhaps the attention to detail given to the mix and master (at least here in Australia. Forgive me for not really understanding the EU scene, as it is quite literally foreign to me 
)
It consists almost entirely of the same old lyrical content of sexual inuendo auto-tuned over the top of a standard pop beat, almost always using as much as they can get away with in terms of what I regard as “stealing” from an older popular song’s riff/tune/base song structure without actually breaching copyright, but close enough that it blurrs the memory of the original song. Furthermore, often enough they are selling out and out remakes of older songs. This is not artistic in any sense as there is no real individual expression, and yet these things are what the “major’s” bread and butter consists of. I could go on and on about how “unartistic” this is, but the real point, and the shame of it all, is that people trying to push the boundaries of what is new and creative are stifled under this mass-marketting machine’s heft, and digression aside, the people being paid the most for their music at the moment are the people who bring very little to the table artistically, so I believe the system of talent/reward is fundamentally broken in this day and age (at least, in my own environment, in my own healthily informed oppinion. I’m not totally naive, even if I have trouble convincing you lot otherwise)
I guess what my argument will really boil down to under pressure is that the stuff they are trying to prevent us from obtaining for free is crass, not worthy of mass-publishing in the first instance - let alone defending the copyrights of - and that the “real” art is usually free to begin with these days, as those artists more often than not get enough of a buzz out of just being heard, so I say fuck the major labels and all they stand for, let em go down with the ship they captained.
I might be missing a point or two that links my whole argument together - please forgive me - I’m a few shots of rum in tonight Before you attempt to shoot me down, question me and allow me to retort soberly 
I just realized… I stopped downloading music illegally 2 years ago. Currently actually buying the applications and plugins I use thoroughly, just like the music I thoroughly listen to. I pay for it. The only thing I download illegally is porn. I aint paying a fucking dime for porn.
botb - you are still ‘indoctrinated’…
illegally downloading??..
there is only illegal uploading…
mlon
You caught me red handed. I meant to say: I don’t download illegally uploaded files, except porn. 
edit: just realized a hypocrisy: I do UPLOAD illegal files…
LOLZ
Know the market, and vote with your dollars.
I hope my arguments do not insinuate that I am a pirate, for I am not. I buy PC games religiously - even if they’re only of “ok” quality - as opposed to pirating them; the market is thinning rapidly due to the ease of piracy, but I demand supply! (and without paying, there will be no supply left)
I definately do NOT buy rubbish music - not that I pirate it either, because the people who release music for free here and at other grass-roots sources release most everything for free, or at least free in lossy formats, so I see no need - but I believe that if nobody is making money from it publishers will try and find another source of profit. Eventually, if enough people have a similar mode of thought, the people who deserve attention on their own merits rather than the merits of marketting will not only get attention, but profit, and I have no problem giving money to people who actually entertain me (see the computer games argument. That is definately entertainment)