...even if their record company tells them not to.

Downloadable music wasn't much in Japan, until about a week ago. Then iTunes hit the Japanese market and four days later a million new downloads had been racked up. The company's local catalog boasts about a million song titles from fifteen of Japan's record labels.

However, some of those left out want in, even if their nominal record label (*coughSonycough*) would rather they sat home. According to an AP wire story (here on SiliconValley.com) at least one individual artist and a major management agency are seeking to do deals directly with Apple.

The snark factor here is incredibly high. Not only does music want to be free, so do musicians. That's "free" as in "free to pursue new and potentially profitable ways to connect to fans." Once again the Cartel puts control over all else - Sony wants to control the download of music from production through distribution, through the service you use and all the way to the devices you're allowed to use to listen to it. This control serves only the corporate interests, despite their attempts to dress it up as being in the artists' interests. Given even the slightest crack of light the artists will promptly bolt for the door.

Run Sano-san, run!