Wilco frontman on file sharing

"'I look at it as a library. I look at it as our version of the radio,' Tweedy said. 'It's a place where basically we can encourage fans to be fans and not feel like they're being exploited, which is basically what the whole industry is geared to do.'

Tweedy encourages fans to tape Wilco shows and has distributed tracks over the Internet for free months before releasing them on CDs.

He agrees artists should be compensated, but 'you try to encourage people to feel more like a patron of the arts instead of a consumer.'"

File sharing creates a more level playing field for independent artists.