I can remember times past, before 1996. Radio stations would get requests from the people, and would play the requested songs. If the songs were good enough, people in nearby cities would hear those songs and start hounding their own stations to play them, and so on. Eventually, the label would pick up on it, and release the single. Before long, the song is a national hit. It didn't matter whether it was country, rock, adult contemporary, soul, disco, or what–if it was good enough, it was requested and played on the radio. And people would then go out and buy the record.

These days, with a few companies owning all the radio stations, if people request a song, they need to seek permission from the station to play it. Usually, unless they get paid enough, they will deny permission. The song stays in the dark, with no way of being singled out from the filler songs. Good talent is not promoted, and the records are never produced. What good music there is out there is not promoted, since requests are no longer honored on radio stations. And, people do not buy those albums.

The suit should go after these big companies and force them to allow DJs to take local requests. That would allow these songs to be exposed to more people. Today, the only way many people even hear the songs at all is by “stealing” them. Since today's radio refuses to play them, services like LimeWire have stepped up to fill in the gap. People will steal one song, and if they like it enough, they will buy it (there is never a guarantee that they are getting the full version on these P2P services). If they do not, they will do what they did with the radio: delete the file and forget about the song.

Let's get rid of the whole pay-for-play system, the “indies”, radio stations that are owned by one or two people, and limited playlists. Let's return to the days when radio DJs were free to play whatever they wanted. This situation, not “stolen” songs, is the real culprit in declining music sales. If people hear of good songs, they are going to buy them.

Also, people should use the honor system–if they steal a song and don't buy it, that is a disincentive for artists to continue putting out good music. If you like the song, support the artist and buy the album. In the meantime, return to good radio stations will help by allowing good songs to be played there–and the advertisements will help support the artists. Which would in turn encourage new artists to put out additional good music.