I think the biggest thing killing it is the glut of songs being written, with every Tom, Dick, and Harriet wanting to record being pressured to have "original material"---99% of which is really bad because they aren't songwriters. The art of songwriting is dying, because songwriters aren't recognized unless they are also performers.

When a great song is written, it's ignored by everybody except the writer, because there's no benefit in doing somebody else's song (with a few rare exceptions). I think that copyright laws may have something to do with it. Combined with that distorted value called "original material".

The music industry could be revived by any encouragement to look for great songs.........many of them obscure that are fermenting in the many song landfills of the world.

Recycling is the answer. Wouldn't it be great if a few groups of "song recyclers" came into being?