shirley legitte

You what was the greatest tool for music discovery & sales that ever existed?

Napster.

Because it let you discover and download obscure music from people who had similar tastes to yours. 

Napster succeeded (initially) because it assisted the discovery process, from the ground-up. A human being did the curation, not an alog.

To people who really listen to music, the whole problem with "popular" music, is that's popular: you hear too much of the same stuff, everywhere you go...who needs to buy Beyonce's latest thing, when you are going to hear it everywhere you go, for the next six months?
 
The Industry has become so efficient at pumping out super-lucrative product from the likes of Taylor Swift of Rhianna, that they don't seem to realize that the real value to the users themselves derives from the Long Tail.