Does the decision of a musical artist to provide their music in digital form automatically state that they give the community the right to freely share it? This would then turn the internet into simply a tool of sharing, much like a public bulletin board on which posters would be placed to advertise local thingies.

The owner of the physical artifact is allowed to record the music onto a cassette. The internet is only a middle-man between the physical artifact and someone that wishes to listen to it. If one wants the true art of it, they'll buy it. If one only wishes to listen to lesser quality versions of it, they will download it and not buy it.

For greater companies in a society when the majority of people cannot tell the difference between higher and lower quality recordings, this system is detrimental. But is it right for the government to declare the sharing of music illegal? Is sharing something illegal?