Again, I would find here that in spite of my assumptions entering into the process that the technology now available has been the primary cause of damage to the record industry, the poor practical orientation of the record industry seems to be the real catalyst to its dramatic collapse. As McCready points out, making money on album sales through a record company has always been a convoluted and dubious process. Accordingly, McCready reports that "Record companies try to make the royalty rate paid to artists as attractive as possible. They may give you a generous royalty rate. However, in addition to the reduced royalty rate on CD's sold outside normal retail channels, there are also many reductions in your royalty rate. I said that the financial terms are often 15 pages or more. Well, your royalty rate is on the first page and the remaining pages are all the reductions. It is impossible to determine how much a band will get for selling a CD without a calculator." (p. 1) With channels of contact on the web diminishing the value of a distributing agency, it is also increasingly becoming more sensible for those organizations which have seized on the downloading sales to find ways to repackage music accordingly. As Marino (2008) points out, this is a condition which has resulted in a diminishing focus on albums as opposed to singles. Listeners and artists alike are benefiting from such models as iTunes, where one can purchase a 99 cent song rather than a $15 album. Indeed, this article would...

Invariably, I and those I know have tended to turn to iTunes or free alternatives such as Limewire as a way of acquiring music that we might have paid for over a decade ago.
In my research, I also found that other web users are finding different ways to access music as these compare to traditional avenues of album sales. For instance, Bachmeier (2007) would provide some useful discussion on the rising popularity of internet radio, also suggesting some of the legal measures which have been considered in making internet radio possible.

This denotes an area of continuing complexity, even following this research process. Indeed, record companies are becoming extinct because they have failed to adjust to changing ways of record distribution and consumption. However, artists, executives, consumers and innovators are still refining the ways that music is sold and bought, suggesting that many of the legal and practical realities of the present day music industry are yet in a state of ongoing change and evolution.

Works Cited:

Bachmeier, J. (2007). How the DMCA Affects Internet Radio. EZine Articles.

Marino, M. (2008). How Has the Internet Affected the Music Industry. Music and Thoughts.

McCready, M.P. (2008). Record Contract Basics. Songstuff.

Rosenbaum, J. (2007). The Era of Free Music is Upon Us. The Seminal.