[Not Insane]

__The entire progressive 70s music run (my favorite genre) was music released on the idea that there had to be an audience for it somewhere and a global distribution scheme would find the people, most of it didn't go gold forget platinum, but it was popular enough to draw in for a profitable tour and allowed the artists to hone their skills for the next album by being full time musicians. The free download model won't do that.__

True. It will do something else. Time will tell what. And seriously, it could be better!

[discostu]

No, it will do nothing. Without the push you'll never hear of these bands. If the current distribution model collapses (which I'm not convinced it will, I think there are a fistful of contributors to current music sales decline and internet distribution is but one entry on that list) the industry as a whole will evaporate.