There is now technology ... which will continuously be improved ... to analyze songs for musical content. It may be possible in the future to map songs not by artist or genre, but by some sort of profile based on the intruments used, the beat, the harmonies, etc.
Then you could type in a few of your favorite songs, and out would pop a list of similar songs tucked away in obscure places all over the net.
Looking for a song could become some weird version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"!
If it is good enough, it does on P2P programs, and since artist does the song as a hobby and NOT for profit, chances are that artist posted it on the P2P programs themselve.
Music was a very minor part of people's lives before this current distribution model was invented,
That is was YOU THINK! Music was VERY MUSH ALIVE before the current distribution model, it was alive in the churchs, bars, saloons, hotels, parties, privates homes and anywhere else someone felt like breaking into song and dance.
when this model collapses it will go back to that.
Nope, just a better model will replace it, and that model probably WON'T need middle-men.
It is a bad thing, at least it's a bad thing to a full time music junkie like me.
You're a music junkie and you DON'T mind the RIAA ripping you and the artist off. Now I know you are either crazy or lying.