In the grand scheme of things, I feel we’re going to look back at the notion that people can get rich selling recorded musical simulacra as a weird anomaly peculiar to the latter half of the 20th century and a small portion of the 21st. I think this is a good thing. I have no illusions about some kind of wonderful ‘golden age’ where semi-talented assholes and a bureaucracy of artless parasites get rich peddling garbage to the masses. I welcome the death of the music industry as we’ve come to know it, where an army of sycophants do all they can to make mediocre shit seem like diamonds, and where people who actually, truly give a fuck about music have all too often been discarded because they don’t fit in with some dickface’s coke-fueled marketing scheme.
Music is not going to die because of downloading. Real musicians will still find the time to make music, and those who are good at it, and want to put in the effort, will still have a chance at making a living out of it. Those who spend half their time whining about people downloading music for free instead of stepping up their live show will die out, while those who focus on performance, and treat their recordings as advertisements meant to entice people to their performances, will flourish. Others may find commercial uses for their music to bring in income. The creative survive. The stagnant die. Oh well. Tough shit.