Q&A: Have the record labels outlived their purpose?

Question by Tom S: Have the record labels outlived their purpose?
These days recording artists and musicians can buy inexpensive digital recording equipment and software that rivals what the recording companies produce in terms of mixing, editing, and sound quality. With the internet, advertising and distribution costs are inexpensive. And the artist can sell to their fans directly from their websites, earn more per song, and charge less than the labels do.

What is the purpose of the record labels today except to drive up music costs of which the artists get a very small amount? Have these labels become obsolete and pointless?

Best answer:

Answer by playball
They still have the resources to heavily promote their artists that the smaller companies can’t do but I can see where your coming from.

Another problem with them is that they think they know what we want to hear more than we do. There’s no telling how many great songs there are that we’ll never hear because of their arrogance.

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