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economist sunsuntribune diversions saturday jan 8 2005 17 rich musicians from page 14 no place to go to legally download or the selection stinks but what about the people who do not use an industryaccepted means of downloading a study released in october shows people who download music do not fear lawsuits or criminal prosecution people who download music and swap files do not believe they are at risk said markus giesler an assistant professor of marketing at york universitys schulich school of business and an expert in entertainment marketing mr giesler is a former music label owner who left the recording industry fol lowing die rise of music file sharing there is a growing sense of strength in numbers the greater the number of peo ple who engage in the prac tice the less likely they are to feel at risk of being sued or prosecuted many downloaders typi cally teens and adults in their early 20s do not believe it is unethical to download music according to mr giesler michelle mos opinion on downloading seems to back up these findings the grade 8 unionville student says she is not wor ried about getting in trouble for file sharing asked if she a markham native is working in seattle wa for a company that helps con sumers download music people can download the companys software free said shelley mclntyre vicepresident of content for shared media licensing inc and weedsharecom this software allows you to buy songs the service which was launched in august 2003 has 84000 songs in its cata logue instead of punishing thought the practice was wrong she said i dont care but she is concerned about how downloading will affect the music industry friends have sent her about 50 songs via msn messenger an instant email messaging sendee despite having these songs she still buys the cds they came from i have a cd player i still want to use it she said e sharing music fans it s not right to take something you dont have at the same time you know everyone else is doing it stouffvilles shannon par sons also fileshares despite her belief it is wrong file sharing is readily available to a small online group she is part of at carieton universi ty in ottawa i dont feel entirely com fortable you know the music industry is losing money its not right to take something you dont have at the same time you know everyone else is doing it and at the same time you know the musicians arent suffering theyare walking around in their milliondollar clothes the firstyear student said people often use ms par sons argument to justify downloading music accord ing to mr lawless the argument goes like this bigtime musicians have large record contracts and millions of dollars and dont need more money but small independent downloading bytes fans we wanted to reward them for sharing music fans are the best marketers of musicians we wanted to empower them she said the service is geared to independent musicians and requires their permis sion to include their music in the service musicians are allowed to set and control prices and the musicians make money from every sale she said several canadian musi cians have signed up to be included to access weedsharecom go to httpwwwweedshare com aurora native adam halim of the band rebel emergency has experi enced the dangers involved in music downloading he was at a manhattan party about four months ago when the band decided to play a song from its debut label cd which had not yet been released band members just wanted to see if people would like the song it was a hit mr halim musicians are also trying to make a living he said whether or not i can survive is dependent on record sales theres this per ception that either musi cians are making millions so it doesnt matter or its a said but within half an hour a woman at the party had the song on her laptop ready to fileshare it they told her they may get into trouble with the record label anybody who down loads music they dont mean anything bad by it she just liked the music for a band like us it could hurt he said the woman was co operative and they got dieir song back photod osmond hobby for them people also argue having music available on the inter net is free exposure but mr lawless disagrees there are a million opportunities to get expo sure for free what they musicians want is to get paid for what they are doing he said given a choice between having 500000 people lis tening to his music online but not paying or 1000 peo ple who buy his cd he would choose the latter many people consider music to be a recreational thing file sharing is a euphemism for file stealing mr lawless said music downloading hurts studio musicians said bill skolnik executive director of the toronto musicians asso ciation a union with about 3200 members these musicians are paid from a fund which draws industryapproved download sites itunes wwwapplecomitunes puretracks wwwpuretrackscom napsten wwwnapsterca archambaultzik httparchambaultzikcom from sales from the entire industry so when cd sales decrease this diminishes the amount available to musi cians he said people think they are entitled to it the music i dont see that were making big inroads in getting through to them that they are taking things that dont belong to them he said songwriters are particu larly hard hit he added they earn a living from cd sales and playtime on tv and radio but aurora native adam halim of die sixmember band rebel emergency argues downloading can benefit unknown musicians who strive to be noticed his group has played at torontos the horseshoe tavern and most bands per forming there have music on the internet he said thats one thing we would agree on get your music online the young bands all benefit from file sharing he also attributes his bands success and record deal to the internet we were able to build a following without a cd he said his band only had a web site and an online newslet ter the band encouraged people to download from its website mr halim also believes online music sharing has an added benefit it forces musicians to travel rather than just rely on cd sales you have to go live if you dont youre in trouble gregg lawless and the acoustic orchestra perform at torontos hughs room jan 22 at 830 pm for tickets call 416-531- 6604 for more infor mation about mr lawless go to httpwwwgregglawlesscom special orders no problem for restaurant staff from page 14 of appetizers including freshly pre pared soup 395 the food at mama mia is hearty homestyle italian cooking nothing fancy but plenty to eat and very well prepared on the evening i visited mama mia i was dining with some rather finicky eaters so i got a chance to see firsthand how they handle special requests and alterations to their menu we were quite pleased that not only didnt our server get flustered but she- accbrri modated 611 r every request with a smile and a reassur ing not a problem we began our meal with a heap ing steaming bowl of plump rei mussels 845 served in a fresh chunky marinara sauce that had a slight kick and plenty of bits for scooping up with misty bread you could plow your way through all the mussels yourself but the order is definitely large enough to share if you add an order of garlic bread 245 for three pieces if you love garlic then you wont be disappointed the caesar salad which is served cold and crisp 695 is prepared in a homemade dressing falling some where between a vinaigrette and creamstyle dressing for entrees we went with a classic spaghetti with meatballs 1095 be forewarned this is not your ordinary spaghetti and meat balls were talking two baseballsized lightly spiced veal meatballs that can best be enjoyed with the assis tance of a knife and fork the gnocchi 1395 sports a portion that is a little small for the price but if you love gnocchi these are quite tasty and light although the menu suggests either a tomato basil or creamy gorgonzola sauce for the gnocchi we opted to sample the alfredo sauce which was quite heavily seasoned with nutmeg and a little on the thin side i would suggest goingwith one of the recommend ed sauces instead along widi the 15 pastas and two risottos there are also eight main dishes on the menu including salmon 1695 and three veal choices 1495 to 2195 we thoroughly enjoyed our veal parmigiana 1445 which fea tured two large lightly breaded cut lets prepared in the traditional fash ion with tomato sauce and moz- zarella cheese again not fancy just good hearty food the chicken piccata 1495 two tender and juicy boneless chicken breasts were lightly sauted in a lemon and white wine sauce that could have used a bit more lemon but was very tasty nonetheless all entrees are served with your- choice of pasta or freshly steamed vegetables and potato sadly as is the case with more and more restaurants these days the desserts are primarily brought in with the exception of the tiramisu and new york style cheese -cake- either provides a nice ending to a satisfying meal