CMU reports:

Talking of downloading, the lead singer of Domino signed band Franz Ferdinand has been speaking out in favour of online file sharing again. Speaking to the BBC before giving a lecture on the topic at Edinburgh University, Alex Kapranos said: "To be honest I'm all for song swapping online. Downloading music from the internet is something I do myself and something that I'd be keen to encourage. From my experience it isn't necessarily the musicians themselves that are against it, but those companies involved in the music industry. The way the music industry is trying to regulate online sites at the minute is very heavy-handed - fining kids for downloading songs is just crazy. File-sharing is something that has really helped us as a band in getting established. When Franz Ferdinand played a gig in New York for the first time, a lot of people there already knew our songs and were singing along. For us it has been global word of mouth that has helped our progress, not hindered it. I don't think it is damaging musicians at all. Downloading music is as revolutionary an invention as the gramophone and I'm all for it."

Of course some might argue (may be even Domino Records) that good music costs money to make, and that even the most frugal of record labels needs to recoup on its investment, and therefore they have a right to be safeguarding their revenue streams. Hey, hang on, we're suddenly arguing the other side...