Singer and Songwriters Myopic? Discuss

Every week some smug troubador dribbles on about how hard life is for a struggling artist and how they're going to sell straight to their fanbase and cut out the Big Bad Wolf of the music industry. Burbles on about how the record company don't understand them and don't increase their revenues despite the fact that digital distribution must have reduced costs significantly. So they're going to fire up a website and sell their 'art' to the fans direct. Well how the fuck do they think they got the fans in the first place. They got 'em because some music industry type bunged a five of six figure advertising and PR budget at a fledgling popster or popstrelle and propelled them, by the power of money, into the public's consciousness. Last week it was Kate Nash and some other johnny/jackie-come-latelys who frankly wouldn't have been given the time of day without some PR person pumping their story to the heavens. There is no doubt that the music industry as a colony (bit like slime molds but with less integrity) is oozing about trying to plot a path through the new paradigm or even trying to define the paradigm which is still shifting on a weekly, if not daily, basis but there's still things they do quite well and blowing up the skirts of the press in general and the music press in particular is one of them. Selling the back story to infiltrate the artist into a jaded buyers short little span of attention is one thing they do very well indeed. They've kept the interest in Coldplay going while they whined their way through three cloned albums before making a reasonably interesting fourth. They've miraculously maintained radio interest in Dido, whose lastest single is getting amazing amounts of airplay despite sounding identical to virtually all of her first album. (Jesus H Christ talk about music to knit entrails to). So before these mediocre talents throw themselves at the mercy of the internet downloader they should consider just how it was their moderate accomplishments clawed their respective ways to the top of the playlists cos it sure as hell wasn't entirely on merit