Bigger question might be why record companies still exist in such a similar form to when they were first introduced/at their most powerful?. I'm starting to thi

Bigger question might be why record companies still exist in such a similar form to when they were first introduced/at their most powerful?. I'm starting to think that they might actually be a necessity, whether it comes to them offering: - Marketing/Promotion - Distribution - A barrier to entry for new artists I've wonder why a service that just let people sell their own MP3s and albums (+/- streaming) on the internet is not enough (assuming the other things a record company offers were split up and handled by other focused companies). My overly optimistic side thinks it's just a matter of no one having built a service that is transparently, obviously, and enforcably out to do nothing but enable musicians to distribute their own material and profit, but skeptical me is well... skeptical. It's such a nuanced conversation, I wonder if there are any correspondences between someone from tech and someone from the music biz that I could read.