Oh, sure, the record companies could take heed of the way the winds are shifting and adapt to the changing circumstances, but so far they haven't really betrayed the sort of intelligence that this would imply. So instead, the record companies might rediscover the fact that intellectual property is an entirely artifical notion, that only exists because society agrees that it should exist, and exists in whatever form society says it should exist - and if they continue the way they have been, eventually nobody in the audience will believe in the concept of copyrighted music at all. And then it will stop existing. But either way, I don't believe for a minute that this means the end of music.
Bye bye Mr. Industry Guy,
Drove my Napster to disaster but the CD's were fried,
And good old boys were thinkin' "freebies for I",
And singin' "this'll be the day that they die"...
With apologies to Don McLean... ;)
I don't think it would mean the end of music, but I do think it would seriously reduce the level of music in our lives. Live music is great but the simple fact is the reason our lives have a soundtrack (which they do) is because of copyright and mass distribution through centralized channels. If copyright falls apart that era will end. Of course eventually ALL eras end, that's how eras work. I'd just rather not be the generation that ushered in that particular end.
Oop, time to change CDs.