The idea that static content (like books and CDs) will eventually be devalued to the zero point has been fostered by progressive thinkers of a certain breed ever since Esther Dyson published Release 2.0 in 1997. Her thinking was that content providers will eventually regard their static output as entirely promotional in its business purpose, leading to revenue derived from public appearances, concerts, consulting, etc.. That radical moment of revaaluation seems to have happened in China, if this USA Today report is to be taken as representing the entire music industry there. Pirating in China (physical piracy, where CDs are replicated in mass quantities the instant they are released, then sold in mainstream CD stores) is so rampant as to be the main (95 percent) sales channel. Accordingly, artists never consider a recording career as anything other than promotional in nature. For anyone who regards China, with its vast population and up-and-coming economy, as an important part of our global future, the desperate machinations of the U.S. recording industry seem insular, artificial, and increasingly dinosauric.