Downloading free music may eventually disenfranchise listeners, says Cris Ruen at The Big Money, because musicians will be desperate for whatever corporate patronage comes their way. “Non-music-industry corporations have long provided essential support for music and other creative industries. But this historic corporate patronage operated in balance with consumer support for record labels,” Ruen says. “The sale of cultural commodities puts the consumer in control of a musician’s future, whereas non-music-industry corporate-patronage places increasing influence over an artist’s career in the hands of the car company, bank, soda manufacturer, or whomever else wants to make the licensing/branding deal.”