I remember, back in my living in America days, constantly downloading music and burning my own CDs, first with Napster, and after that with Kazaa. Imagine my amazement when I burned my first CD and discovered that it held twenty (twenty!) songs. Up until that point I had been satisfied with the fact that a CD generally could hold no mare than fifteen full length songs, at the maximum. Twenty songs! Pishaw. And the next thing you�ll be telling me is that man can walk on the moon!

Today�s music artists are complaining that they are loosing money because everyone pirates music these days. I have to suppress laughter every time I see an artist protest. First of all, maybe I wouldn�t have a problem buying your CD if I didn�t have to pay about, oh, 900 percent its actual value. CDs can be found in good music stores for a cost between fifteen and twenty dollars. To make a CD today it the total cost is no more than a dollar, and even that�s being generous. Secondly, and this is really the more important issue, I wouldn�t have nearly as much of a problem paying the ridiculous price for a CD if the artist had actually taken enough time and effort to fill all the space on the disc with music. Recently I�ve had the urge to buy some CDs, being addicted to music as I am, and have gone shopping on amazon.com to scope some out. I found the new Seal CD had eleven songs on it, and the new Sting CD? Eleven as well. What is so hard putting enough work into a CD to see that its actually full? What ever happened to finishing the job? Musicians love to make music, so why not put in some elbow grease and make an amount worthy of the money that the listeners have to pay? Even my favourite artists have pathetically few songs on their CDs. Michelle Branch? Thirteen. John Mayer? Ten. In fact, the only artist I can even think of will a full CD is Christina Aguilera with her album Stripped. I can�t even begin to tell you how awesome her album is. Not only does the music rock, but the CD is actually full. Christina fills her CD to the brim with twenty songs, and bears herself emotionally. And physically, I might add. She sings about raw things like pain, sex, and love. She tell the world that yes, she does like sex, but she�s not addicted, she has a soft side, and she�s open to love. She did her job until it was finished. Some may say that she�s to sexual. I think nude photography can be incredibly cool if done in the right way. She is artistic and truthful. Other artists need to follow Christina�s example. Her CD is actually worth twenty dollars.

Artists need to realize that if people have to pay to hear their music then it better damned well be worth the money. Too many musicians have forgotten that at one point they were begging people to listen to their music for free.

So pour some raw emotion into the music. Spend enough time in the studio to get it right. Play your own instrument, and play it well. Write your own lyrics. Say something new. And for god�s sake, your CD isn�t a bag of chips, so fill the damn thing all the way up.