Pavle, thank you for your comments. I agree with everything you say as true.

But I do want to call into the question the paradigm that a record label invests in artists. That has been the case for many years, but does that make it ethically correct and does that paradigm still make sense today? I think one aspect of that paradigm is that it treats artists as employees of the record label and their work products belong to the label.

An alternative paradigm that I suggest is that the artist controls the work product and hires recording engineers and marketing experts to promote their music. As owner of an Internet radio station,. I work with many independent artists who operate this way.

I think both paradigms have their place and artists should be free to choose what works for them. Part of that freedom though means the record labels need to not be allowed a monopoly on people's access to music. That's a big problem we need to address.

Douglas