It's a wonderful age to get your music out there and get a chance to be heard. The thing is that,more and more, being heard is all that you get. There's practically nowhere to go from there on.
 
Back home in Quebec, veteran singers are often left with no option but to participate in contests like The Voice because the media are pumping out dozens of new singers and celebrities every year with no regard for the over saturated market.
 
In many cases, those shows are no longer a mean but an end. 
 
The funny thing is that a large portion of the public bashes those professional singers, assuming that they are established and earn a living. 
 
If you ask me, the old way wasn't perfect but it still allowed a lot more people to earn a living. And even though a bunch of execs were left to decide who would be signed, there were still 100 more options and more diversity than the current paradigm allows. 
 
Let's face it - even commercially successful mutli-platinum major label bands like Pink Floyd or U2 wouldn't even stand a chance to have any official exposure. There's no equivalent to an album-oriented label like Warner was in the early 70s, who'd invest time and money and try to develop an artist. It's all bubble-gum pop.

Rain
I see what you mean and I guess there's no arguing in terms of paradigm shift, and that there is no going back.
 
As objectively as possible though, I'd still point out a major difference between traditional broadcasting and streaming. The minute you can listen to anything you want, anytime, you're basically given the same access to the material as you would if you'd bought it. There is virtually no reason to buy a CD.
 
Whereas traditional broadcast was still more of a promotional tool.
 
I remember being a kid and sitting through one hour of videos on late friday nights to have a chance to catch one video by Scorpions or Motley Crue - occasionally...
 
The scarcity of it meant that if those band put out a VHS, we'd buy it in order to be able to decide when and where we wanted to listen. Streaming annihilated that concept. The promotion tool became the product, and music was left behind.

I agree, streaming has removed the need to buy CD's for many people. However I'm still not sold on the idea that streaming royalties are too low. Well maybe they could be a little higher. And I think in time, they'll end up a little higher. Personally I think $9.95/month for Spotify is too cheap for what you get. It's great that it is that cheap of course, but I think the price will rise in time to maybe $15 or $20. And the number of subscribers will grow and grow. There aren't nearly enough subscribers at this time to make it a money spinner for anyone but the most successful artists (I think I read somewhere that Daft Punk has made over $1million from streams of one song - Get Lucky).  But Spotify isn't responsible for the decline in CD sales - digital files are. As soon as it became possible to email bit-perfect copies of songs to your friends, piracy was always going to explode. There is little you can do about that. Streaming services like Spotify should be applauded for finding a way to monetize something which had effectively lost its value because of new technology.

It struck me at some point that we live in a pretty narcissistic period and that selling a cd to people just wasn't enough.
 
I vaguely imagined that maybe someday, artists would market custom music and mixes, get their audience to participate in the process. Because people want to be a part of it. People would pay a fee to have THEIR official mix of a pop song to put on their Facebook page, to get their 15 seconds of fame.
 
It was funny to read Bobby O.'s newsletter a few weeks later and to see him point out that people were now buying "an experience" - a meet and greet before the concert, to have their picture taken with the artist, and a signed cd. He also mentioned that PJ Harvey was selling virtual tickets to attend the recording sessions of her new album.
 
In the end, whatever you do as an artist, you need to offer something that people can be a part of.
 
I do find it disheartening but I'm still hoping that something else and greater can survive besides, something that's about art and not simple self-promotion.

MandolinPicker
Interesting article over at Business Insider. Seems streaming music has all but eliminated music piracy in Norway.
 
"In five years, the number of people admitting to illegally downloading files online has gone from 80% of survey respondents to just 4%. The survey also revealed that less than 1% of young people in Norway said illegal downloads were their main source of music."
 
More at http://www.businessinsider.com/norway-music-piracy-statistics-2015-1

.... or at least eliminating the possibility of admitting it.