Interesting reading.
I think a lot of big labels got very bloated with non-creative middlemen types who mainly liked to pretend they were creative geniuses somehow... and sometimes they let the actual promo and salesmen who did real work interfacing with the world down. Sadly they started eating each other and with the lesser variety the creative part stagnated into copying proven things. There have been some great successes among small labels and reissue labels that were lean and less extravagant (into the hype and 'lifestyle'). At least the ones that didn't exist or want to succeed mainly just to be good enough to get bought up by the giants.
I think the new reality is going to be downloads (or varying quality) mainly with hard copies in CD or vinyl being the upscale boutique option.
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