[virmundi]

I use to listen to music often. I use to play guitar, harmonica, drums and bass. Over the past 10 years I stopped caring. The music industry just turned me off. I stopped playing along. Then I stopped listening. I got so tired of the ads and money grabbing that I turned to NPR rather than a local DJ. In the end I found that the music wasn't me. It wasn't necessary.

[dTal]

Isn't that a bit like giving up on reading and writing because you don't like Amazon's eBook DRM?

(By which I mean it's an important aspect of the human experience, a powerful method of communication, and certainly something one can participate in without any sort of corporate intermediary - particularly if you play instruments!)

[kakarot]

"The music industry" has nothing to do with artists of previous generations, except that they still try to make money from them. Participating in that scheme in order to appreciate their art is entirely optional.

"The music industry" has nothing to do with independent artists of this generation who promote their own stuff or who sign on to small independent labels. It is just not the same thing and you are limiting yourself by conflating them with "the music industry". Of course, that's entirely your choice but it is healthy to keep in mind this is entirely an artificial limitation.

It's also important to realize that just because you got burned out on music, doesn't mean other people who live and breathe music should also decide to stop listening to it. There are other, more effective ways of protesting the bad parts of the music industry than not listening to its IP.