In terms of distribution, SoundCloud and YouTube is very very close to being a good alternative to centrally-run companies of old. In terms of comedy, Derrick

In terms of distribution, SoundCloud and YouTube is very very close to being a good alternative to centrally-run companies of old. In terms of comedy, Derrick Comedy was actually really popular even before one of their stars got on Network television, simply from uploading videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/derrickcomedy http://www.youtube.com/user/derrickcomedy. Musically, one artist that's blown up solely from releasing their own material on the internet is The Weeknd ( http://www.the-weeknd.com/ http://www.the-weeknd.com/) , who makes and posts songs much more often than a band on a label does (his schedule seems to be one EP every six months or so).