@ Wutzington... i already made the point that music is and will continue to be made and given away for free, and that some of it will be quite good... thing is, none of us are really listening much, despite a MASSIVE supply, to any home-made music that's given away for free RIGHT NOW, so how can one speculate that this type of thing could ever be at the heart of any kind of "future model"??... no, we are all pretty much listening to music that has been produced to high quality and high expense... signed bands on labels... and doing so overwhelmingly. So as a culture we are saying one thing and doing another, while cheating AND deluding ourselves about the whole affiar in some kind of weird display of mass, culture-level sociopathy... all trends cannot be rendered benign by anointing them as "cultural"
Personally I always thought the majors dropped the ball by not going all-in with SACD hybrids when file sharing first hit. For those that don't know the SACD hybrid had a layer of standard PCM CD (playable on a regular CD player) and a layer of 1bit DSD (comparable to 20bit/96k PCM). This would have greatly expanded the chasm in fidelity between MP3 and physical mediums w/o alienating current buyers the way other technology shifts had in the past (b/c you didn't have to buy a new player if you didn't want). The craziest thing to me is that Sony/Philips owned the technology so there was automatic incentive for Sony Music (Sony, Columbia, RCA, Epic, etc.) to do it but they didn't.
For example, Britney Spears sold 14mil in 99 and N'Sync sold 11 million copies in 2000-- both on Jive (a Sony subsidiary). That would be 25 million SACD's in the hands of (young) consumers.
Of course this wouldn't have stopped d/l but it could have potentially created hype around a different medium. When Napster first hit it was as much a novelty as it was a viable way to get records. That was the moment when the industry had the greatest potential to up it's game and keep some momentum. Of course this is only my theory.
not to forget you guys have ulcerate and early peter jackson movies!
I was in college when Napster and the MP3 format first hit. At that time the debate in the pro audio world was whether DVD-A (supported multiple PCM bit/sample rates and surround) or SACD would win the new format war. That discussion ended within a couple of years.I had no idea that format even existed at any point. Something like that would've made sense to push, I think. Instead Sony pushes new video mediums when they aren't really necessary. Sure, Blu-Ray looks better, but from my personal experience, not that much better. Nonetheless, the industry is in a real pickle.
i am glad the OP has some clarity of thought on this.... illegal downloading is indeed the culprit, and it's become pandemic... the largest majority of music fans are not replacing CDs with purchased downloads... no, most are now just stealing.
brain.. i had trouble following a lot of your post.. perhaps a language barrier?... but as for your last paragraph, i think a whole lot of people THINK they are making a "pro record for a few thousand bucks", but the amount of people that actually are is far far lower... if you own or rent a good acoustic space already, and already have pro gear, and already have all the necessary skill sets, and years put in developing them to a high enough degree, especially your ears... then sure, you can do it.... but most bands have none of the above, and probably shouldn't worry about trying to acquire them.... they need to write good songs, TOGETHER... in a REHEARSAL SPACE... and put their time and efforts into that. that is what makes good music, not laptop-jockey grid-love.
i'm about sick of "Laptop Metal" to be quite honest... and i think most people are, even if they don't realize it yet.