Did the "major music corporations" really "collapse"? In my estimation about 90% (and all of the winners in the most important categories) of the Grammy-winners on so called independent labels rely on distribution/marketing power from UMG/INGroove/Fontana/Caroline, Sony/RED or WMG/ADA.
Can artists - apart from the "biggest stars" - really do everything alone / maximise their earnings thru new deals / new models? Can musicians negotiate with Google, Apple, Amazon, Spotify and Pandora or must they accept their terms?
I fear the "bigger picture" is not so positiv as you assume. And there is another problem:
"Anyone could argue that the Grammys have always been a celebration of money, but this year’s show — and the advertisers that supported it — seemed to stealthily cross a line. When pop music is no longer able to sell itself, its newfound reliance on ad dollars should make artists and fans extremely uneasy. This is a model that will continue to strip musicians of their power to take aesthetic risks, unpack contentious social issues, explore and explain the beautiful, horrific weirdness of living in the 21st century and — to paraphrase LL Cool J’s Grammy night monologue — truly unleash us.
In actuality, the leash is getting shorter. But we’ll never notice if we don’t pull in the opposite direction."
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/mus...98f9e5267_story.html
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