It's unworkable, surely?

Have there been any good threads on it lately? I'm interested in hearing what people think about it. Whilst I understand that people should ultimately pay for music, I'm also of the (probably quite immature) opinion that the music 'industry' as a whole has operating within a warped marketplace for far too long, and are in some way slightly deserving of this huge kick up the arse

Clearly, artists losing out is A Bad Thing. But how many other areas of commerce have been operating within a fixed and undisputed price structure for over 20 years? And how is it right that the BPI can adopt these bully tactics and hold any sway over governmental action when it's effectively just working as a bitch for the majors?

I may have asked this before, but does anybody know of any stats that give an idea either way as to the effect downloading is actually having on the music industry?