The record companies are probably throwing more money at the problem than what they might lose through those who copy CDs.

The interesting thing about the music industry lies in the accounting.

Say for example they pay the artist seven percent of the sales.

Imagine also that it might cost them 12 cents to make a CD.

And let's say a million copies of the CD are sold.

The CD sells in WallMart for $11.96.

The artist therefore earns $837,200.00. Anyone know how much the US Federal income tax comes to for that? Let's say it's 60 percent. That leaves our artist with $334,880.00. After buying a new 2006 Porsche 911 997 Carrera 4S, he is down to $246,985.00 and cannot afford an entry-level house in California. He has to get a mortgage. He's broke and has to make promotional appearances to pay the child support bills for his groupies.

The record company grosses $11,002,800.00. From this sum they must deduct various production and promotional costs, of course, as well as their share of tax. But they own the production and promotional companies so the expenses they claim on their tax return really come right back around into their own pockets through an umbrella corporation.

Next, they go out and spend some of their profits on copy-protection software. How much do they pay for the copy protection, per disc? Is it more than the twelve cents they pay to press the disc?

Bear in mind that this is an expense, and therefore another tax deduction.

But they're worried about the what they MIGHT have sold. This is where it gets interesting. I cannot go out and calculate how much money I would like to have made in my lifetime if only I got paid what I would like to have been paid, but apparently they KNOW for CERTAIN that they WOULD have sold more if not for illegal copying. They take politicians out for multi-thousand-dollar weekends to sway them into conducting congressional investigations at taxpayer expense with the ultimate goal of passing stiffer laws against all these hardened criminals who copy CDs. What about all the legislative expenses paid for by the taxpayers just so the music industry can make MORE money?

I think that's the real crime.