There's no doubt the music world has changed with the introduction of the Internet and the way music reaches fans. In a new interview with Mike 'The Big Cheese' of the 'Heavy Metal Mayhem' radio show, current Philm and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo addresses the decline in revenue brought about by illegal downloading and he credits Metallica's Lars Ulrich for stepping up to fight Napster at the beginning of the download era.

Lombardo says that even before the advent of file sharing and illegal downloading, the music industry was a tough one to be involved in as there were always ups and downs. He recalls when it first became apparent that something was happening, explaining, "You definitely noticed when it happened. In the years following the commencement of the Internet and downloads and when Napster started, you started noticing a change in your royalty checks. So it wasn't something that you were able to foretell. It's just something that happened."

Of Ulrich and his taking on the file-sharing giant, Lombardo added, "Yeah, he was [right to fight]. He was smart. He tried to fight against it, and that was a brave thing Lars did, and his team. But, unfortunately, it's still going on, and there's nothing really at this point we can do about it."

The drummer continued to lament the way people get their music now, adding, "I see sometimes these little posts of these pictures on either Facebook or Twitter and it shows someone buying a coffee for five bucks and they can't pay for a download that's only 99 cents. So it sucks, but that's just the way it is. That's the way the times are now."

Lombardo says the days of getting a $500,000 advance to do an album are over, but you just have to adapt and find other avenues to get music to the people while still being able to make a living at doing it.

The drummer just released Philm's sophomore set, 'Fire From the Evening Sun.' The disc is currently available at Amazon and iTunes.

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