What will, in my opinion, 'kill' the record industry in a positive way will be a continuation of the situation where artists and small labels do their own thing using new (and old) technology. Apart from when it comes to promoting either X-factor style light entertaintment or wringing the last drops of life out of the bloated corpse of corporate rock (so as to speak), I really can't see the point in the lumbering dinosaurs that are the major record labels continuing to exist. They've served their purpose, now it's time to move on. Ok, probably no-one making music is going to get mega-rich wthout them - but most don't anyway, and no-one, including musicians, really needs to make anything beyond a decent living... not that most even achieve that!

What will 'kill' the record industry in a negative way is the continued existence of and pandering to little toerags who think its ok to give away stuff that isn't theirs, whether it be via filesharing or music blogs. Just because the record industry is run by a conniving bunch of ne'er-do-wells, it doesn't give every Tom, Dick and Harry who fancies themselves as Robin Hood the carte blanche to jump on the bandwagon!

An example. A friend of mine's band did a rather good folk rock album (in the loosest sense of the word) last year. It then turned up as a free download on a blogsite (I'm not going to name it here, as I wouldn't want to give the blogger the publicity, but musicians who want to check their stuff isn't there can PM me for details) before he'd even finished paying for the recording of it! The blogger took it down when asked, but the point is, he shouldn't have put it up in the first place without asking. And it's not exactly going to encourage people to carry on making music if other people are intent on denying them the chance to even cover their costs... Finally, there were no major labels or striking of blows against 'the man' involved, as my friend's album came out on a relatively hand-to-mouth indie label. Just more bad manners, thoughtlessness and selfishness, I reckon.

Even of me going on with myself.

Cheers

Nigel

PS am I allowed to name the record and encourage you all to go out and buy it?