09-02-2008, 02:00 AM
The music industry isn't dying...it is just having a shift in who is in control. It used to be a handful of labels. Now it is moving back more to the people. At some point in the not too distant future musicians will start to ditch labels alltogether and self produce, distribute, and promote via the web primarily. The same thing will happen with newspapers, radio, movies, video entertainment (can't really call it TV anymore). The models that are bringing the future closer are Amie St, Jamendo, Magnatune, CDBaby, etc. Heck, even eMusic is closer than iTunes, though Apple could change that in a moment's notice. Eventually musicians will earn what they deserve from their music. Not everyone will be fantastically popular, but that is no different than now. You'll probably see a shift in the labels from recording and selling into artist promotion and management. Copyright rules will need to change, but that is coming too.