Lowery is essentially right to call out the "I want everything and I want it now" culture on their bizarre attachment (and willingness to pay) for the hardware and mechanics of it all, but not for the product created by the artist (which does indeed call for a Marxist analysis if Marxism wasn't considered an entirely empty exercise these days).

Emily's truthfulness needs to be taken into account by the folks who run the machine ... because this generation *hasn't* bought music, and even older generations have easily slipped into the same habits.

But in the end, both sides err in their omissions:
Lowery willfully ignores the fact that a good portion of the population now *does* try to do the right thing by grabbing tracks or albums through Itunes or using subscriptions services that they are sold as being legit. He also ignores the absolute failure of the record industry to cope with the transition in the first place, pursuing cease and desists instead of trying to develop productive ways to harness tech to the ends of the artists (ideally) and those who support them. It's really only been the last (five?) years that the labels have sought to adapt, to stay ahead of the curve and to figure out how to monetize the whole thing - but big surprise that it's taken so long for all involved to adjust to the adjustments, and extra big surprise that the artists are (largely) getting screwed from the new legit models (spotify, rdio, itunes, etc).

Lowery also ignores the *increase* in physical sales over the last few years that suggests that we may have be seeing a slight (though certainly not dominating) return to physical form (particularly vinyl), and doesn't really wonder what that might mean.

In short, Lowery does a lot of fingerpointing at the fans but really lets the labels and industry off the hook. Emily, on the other hand, actually has a pretty reasonable "excuse" (if we can call it that) in that she grew up in an environment that the industry partially created and are only now trying to adjust to.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~