We do not need to get rid of big record companies. They will get rid of themselves. The writing is on the wall. Corporate greed worldwide has spun us into a recession, due to ineptness of managers and decision makers to undertake financial transactions with due diligence and transparency. This is the cancer of the entertainment industry where executives in A&R will only promote friends and family members, instead of talented musicians. Record labels out there have dropped sales by more than 25% in the last five years, and have started laying off a lot of their staff. This void is being filled by companies on the Net marketing songwriting competitions for a fee of course and A&R production companies. Not to mention all the Indies labels and the radio promotion companies. All these guys ask for money upfront before they will even process your music. The fees range from $20.- per song in songwriting competitions to $300- $5000 for agencies, A&R and other ancillary sharks out there. The concept is to capture the musician/artist on their emotion and desire to make a breakthrough in the industry and play on that psychological anxiety. Songwriting competitions will solicit you with products from their sponsors prior to declaring the results of the competition. Meanwhile you can rest assured you will not be selected amongst those who may benefit from a publishing or record deal. The change has manifested by means of the Net. Independent musicians and other well meaning people are presently feverishly creating a digital age where the success of the music will be determined by the fans and the dj’s in the radio stations. Mainstream charts and record labels will still be in control for a while until the convergence of the cost of marketing and the cost of the artist cd will reflect reduced profit margins for the marketing team and greater earnings for the artist. Star status will soon become a thing of the past and huge revenues made by some labels will shrink, enabling other fresh talent enter the music industry. The artist will also feel the economic downturn of dwindling revenues and will resort to live performances to increase their profit margin. Good live bands will rule. Playback and miming will get hurt. The consumer will reap the benefits.