much like newspapers theres faster and more convenient ways of doing things, like downloading with a click and opening with a click.

Album art is prob the last thing that would make me check a cd!

Just like the history of so many other forms of product and media, the old will die, new smaller smarter groups will emerge, they will become comfortable and conglomerate, ad infinitum. Despite this system of capitalization true art always gets out.

and it will all be digital.

then again, i’ve been called crazy before

Of course… there’s a point when piracy is so consuming that major labels start to shut down as marketing and selling awful commercial music is no longer viable. This is looking increasingly likely as piracy gets worse, the global recession continues and labels carry on making losses. In this scenario, Flo Rida gets a job in the local McDonalds and Radiohead keep on making music for the love of it. I have to say that this idea appeals to me in some ways, regardless of how damaging it is to artist’s finances.

Then I got a job where we all listened to CDs all day because that’s what the other guys had. I got a new appreciation for the album as an art form.

I think there is a place for albums, but the onus is on the artists to make their content worthwhile.

Now there are more crap artists putting out crap singles trying to fill the void. A label replicates kanye west 5 times and each version has 2 hit singles. All this does is kill a long term cash cow like kanye faster by exploiting his style and sound.

I’d say all the pro aspects of your article are true and the con’s are just a matter of taste and perception. Digital gets better quality to people faster in nearly unlimited quantities.