I agree that economics of music is a mess these days. The technology to make and distribute high quality music is no longer solely in the hands of a few megacorporations. Personally, I love it for a lot of reasons (after all, our beloved empeg is one small part of that technology wave). There are the obvious reasons to love it as a consumer, in terms of the variety and the availability of music. But as a musician, I love it because me, my friends, and a lot of other independent musicians, can find and connect with a worldwide audience that we wouldn't otherwise have had. There are so many amazing musicians who I've gotten to hear because of it, people whose music would never have gotten out of their living rooms if it weren't for this revolution. The old days of requiring "one big hit" with a record label in order for your music to find an audience are gone.

But yeah, there's a dark side to it. I know a few professional independent musicians pretty well. By professional, I mean that music is their only source of income. The only way they are able to stay alive is by working very hard, constantly doing every little gig they can, and traveling a lot so that they can find new audiences. They mostly live below the poverty line, and depend on friends and fans for a lot of little things, like couch surfing when they travel. The only ones who make enough money to live comfortably are the ones who have managed to nail the "big viral hit". Kinda like the old days in that regard, I guess.