The record industry is dead. Anyone still trying to justify downloading in that it has not affected the industry is just plain old stupid. Millions of people who would have purchased did not because the music was available for free. The selling of records industry is completely dead.
Music is not going anywhere, and the large payments that musicians have will not be going anywhere either - they can easily make this money in concerts.
This is actually good - proceeds from a concert are spread out across a lot more people than proceeds from a CD.
And some people purchased who would not have done if the music hadn't been available for free. I don't know if those sales made up for the people you mentioned. But I'm sure you don't know either.
I agree that the record selling industry is dying, and probably can't be saved as we know it.
Music is not going anywhere, and the large payments that musicians have will not be going anywhere either - they can easily make this money in concerts.
This is actually good - proceeds from a concert are spread out across a lot more people than proceeds from a CD.