Buck, I do see your points and agree with you to an extent. Record labels exist to make money and whatever form they take in the future will have the same goal. The "problem" is that we are using current models to imagine what the future will hold.

Based on trends and technology I think the creation and distribution of music will be radically different. The way things seem to be heading, people will be able to call up a song or a particular artist and purchase what they want. Unless there is an economical break, why pay for a whole album if you are only interested in one song? I would bet most of us have numerous CD's where we only care about a couple of cuts. The distributors of recordings in the future will need to figure out a way to market their "product". If it appears that artists will be making more sales from single songs, the record labels will figure out a way to make money that way.

Again, this is just my opinion based on the changes that I am seeing. I am sure that no matter what changes occur, the technology should be enabling not prohibitive. Artists will have more creative freedom once they can make the technology work for them.   Making music solely for money should not be the goal but rather to celebrate the music.