I was just looking through some of y'all fave labels and I wondered if anyone has any thoughts on how an increasingly online downloading music culture might affect 'record' labels - either for the labels themselves or for future music buyers? Less or more important or no different?

Well, dl'in music can deff. get a band a lot more exposure.

I'm not sure if I believe all the bs about it robbing the musicians of so much money (notice the maj. of the whining is being done by record labels and the already wealthy musicians whereas a lot of indie bands are just offering a lot of their music for free or for a small price and hoping for higher concert attendance, more word o' mouth, and more band merch bought).

Downloading music for free is going to be really hard to get rid of, and they're obviously not going to try to get rid of online music services (it's one of the only things saving record execs jobs in my most unknowledgable opinion).

Thanks for your thoughts boarder753 - nice point re the existing market piggies grumbling about stealing. Look what litigating re downloading did to Metallica's street cred - that and performing with a classical orchestra...but that's another story!

Less overheads for less profits, lets hope labels can diversify and still survive/grow.

Usually musicians only receive tiny amounts of what the sales of the records amount to (up to 15%, at the most), so really their survival depends on live shows rather than sales: and more people downloading their music means more public for the shows.
Also, they don't really need a label behind them for production (modern technology allows more then decent home recordings) or distribution (net labels don't make any physical cds, they just put the music online for downloads).
I believe the future of distribution is in fairer deals for users and musicians: many net labels have already started dividing their profits 50% with artists: check out Magnatune, Fadingways, reshapemusic, beatpick. They're all net labels, doing well financially and not ripping off anyone. Why continue to give money to companies who don't respect users or clients???

Labels could still survive if they became indispensable to an artists career, like how Arista was back in the day.

They stopped being creative a long time ago. A&R also needs to begin carefully selecting artists material. Everything from album packaging to album sequencing needs to have a lot of thought put into it. Fact is, labels nowadays don't. Look Geffen layed-off 60 employees BEFORE the holidays.

When you think about it the majority of professionals who run the music industry are coporate america rejects who "like to keep it real and follow their passion for music." They're as egotistical as artists can be combined with a lack of overall business sense. That's really dangerous.

Understanding that music is best when genuine, that you're selling a feeling - this whole glamour-Nicole Scherzinger-bling-bling approach needs to come to a screeching halt - is understanding the business. The key players that run things don't.

I agree with you KingsGift. Coming back to sensitive music and not only commercial one can save labels and musicians...