Bring back patronage. If it was good enough for
the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, then it ought
to be good enough for today.
An example, perhaps, will help make me clear.
If Mountain Dew (actually Pepsico) were to pay
Rage Against The Machine $2 million annually for
6 new tracks per year then everyone would be in a better position
than they are now. Rage would get to make whatever
music they want, Mountain Dew would gain instant credibility (and, presumably, higher sales) among the
rebellious teen-age market that they are pitching themselves to, and those rebellious kids
would have access to the music that they like at no charge.
I'm convinced that the real solution to the present
problems facing the music industry lies in rethinking
the fundamental economics of music creation and distribution. Rather than the current model which
doesn't reward bands for artistic production, doesn't allow for the sharing of music, and doesn't scale to
a digital world we should seek something that more closely matches how real people listen to music.