You are right about the music business. The money is going out of selling recordings - they're becoming just promotion for live concerts.
thats a scary thought. I hope your wrong about that. We could possibly end up with a bunch of music produced on a laptop and midi controller.
The music that is coming out today maybe subpar to that of the past because of corporate control but as far as I know a good production still costs major money and involves a lot of people. Producers, engineers, Tracking studios, mixing studios, mastering studios...Can you imagine million dollar studios trying to survive on the local bands....everyone needs to get paid or we will have a serious drop in quality. Plus, I would be concerned about bands not becoming popular without corporate backing. I mean how many bands have become huge hits without corporate marketting, by just self promotion on the internet? I have no idea but probably not to many. I could see the CD disappear but downloads will still be for sale. If the Big 4-5 disappear I think other corporations will just form to take there place. I just don't think pirate "free" is the way to go, It could kill the entertainment industry eventually. Maybe just a restructuring of the business model is in order.