Maybe soon someone worth listening to will ditch the current corporate model.

there are two types that suddenly abort 'the system'

those who are now unpopular

those who are now so rich they don't care

Practically no young bands want anything to do with "freedom from record labels." They want the gelt. They want the groupies and sex and coke and all the other things the record companies promise them. Only when they realize their fan base has gone on to the next bunch of dopes with guitars do they start talking "art" and start protesting the record companies.

If this sounds too cynical, take a look at the garage bands booked as the "concert series" bands on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Not a lot of musical talent, not saying a hell of a lot, but they get fancy visual effects and crap and they are cheered by their groupies like they were the second coming of Jesus. And then you never hear from them again.

Now he'll have time to make a pretentious movie based on his last pretentious album. Oh, wait, he's already doing that:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/03/07/trent-reznor-in-talks-for-year-zero-movie/

The artists who get really rich buy or start their own labels. Why? Because being under contract to a record company means never being more than 3 records away from bankruptcy. Sign a deal and then fail to sell the projected number of records and you wind up getting sued not just for the advance royalties but for the money the label thought they were going to make. And you will lose, a la Van Halen.

The model for distributing music is slowly getting flipped on its head. Instead of A&R guys finding bands, signing them, and then dictating who will become famous and/or popular, bands are promoting and distributing their own stuff and the consumer is getting to decide who is worthy. Its been happening at the lower end of the industry for a while now, and bigger acts are taking notice.

The fact is that almost nobody makes any money off their record deal directly, even really big acts. The money to support their rock and roll lifestyles comes from gate receipts, tour sponsorships, and publishers. The publishers are the ones that get a song placed in a movie or a TV show or a commercial. The label provides distribution and promotion - including their ace in the hole, telling radio stations what to play - and initial funding in the form of advance royalties. The band pays for the creation of the product, the manufacture of the product, and even some of the promotion of the product out of those royalties. For the most part artists pay the record companies, not the other way around, since most of the money from CD sales goes to the label.

But as traditional radio becomes less and less relevant, the labels are losing more and more clout. Even people who still listen to radio are less likely to buy what the program directors are telling them to, a lesson Enrique Iglesias learned the hard way. This is on top of the fact that nobody - not the artists, not Apple, not Wal-Mart - likes doing business with record lables. They have been the only show in town for so long that their modus operendi is to make demands and then wait for the other side to capitulate. Not a pleasant experience.

What Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and thousands of other bands at the other end of the spectrum in terms of fame are doing is the equvalent of local initiatives to legalize drugs. The overall impact isn't huge, but precedents and best practices are being established. The question "why do we need a record contract?" is getting asked more and more. If the big guys really want to fuck the record companies they need to invest some of their zillions in the only component that's missing - a Google type clearinghouse for independent music. There are some out there, but none that have reached critical mass. If someone comes up with a site that becomes synonomous with "where I go to look for music" that doesn't use the traditional business models (maybe advertising driven, maybe a reasonable flat fee or usage based) that will be the end of traditional record lables. For all we know Google is working on that as we speak.

The music industry has been broken for a long time. We now have the tools to replace it and a growing acceptance of those tools by the artists and the consumers. It's just a matter of time now.