yeh,i know what you mean,i produce in my own studio too.i agree that you should be paid if someone wants to hear your work.
maybe now that internet providers are starting to prosecute people who file share it may change the free for all but they will probably find another way round it.
the good thing about mp3.com was that when people listened to your music you at least accumulated some kind of payment but i am sure they must have lost loads of money as people didn't really buy much.
most musicians and producers that i know all have to supplement their income with other work ie
ainters,plumbers or whatever they can do to earn a living,even some of the well known guys.
i also understand that trying to put a band together and take your music out would probably cost you more in the short term.most of the venues don't want to pay either.
one of the problems as i see it is,thousands of artists are giving their music away,even signed artists and until people get control of file sharers then we as artists have no choice if we want people to listen to our music.
but the good thing is,you don't need to give everything to a record company now to get your music heard.
also printing off loads of cd,s when you are not gigging is dangerous.
i have been left with a couple of boxloads in the past and ended up giving them away.