Music piracy and mp3's in general have been the best thing to happen to the music industry in a long time, in my opinion, simply because of the exposure. The people getting hurt are major labels and major label acts who are for the most part boring, stale and derivative. The people benefiting are bands who make innovative and daring music, as well as fans of said music. This is augmented by the surge in popularity of indie music review sites such as Stylus and Pitchfork.
So now, I'll check out what these publications have to say about new music, get some buzz on good bands, download their stuff, then support them by going to their shows and buying records/t-shirts/whatever.
The Decemberists are a case in point. They're on top of the indie-music world right now. Mark my words, they would never have gotten close to their current status without filesharing. Clear-channel dominated radio would never have played them, nor would MTV. They're choosing what they think we want to hear and playing it as safe as possible.
So sure, it's not fair to all and it hurts some major bands. But as a maker and fan of DIY music it benefits my camp a great deal. I never feel guilty about downloading an album because I don't download music by any band who's more hurt than helped by it.
