We (I) tend to think of music as it relates to me, the listener. But I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about the pure number of artists there are making music and struggling to be heard. In the past, the only real outlet for musicians was getting “discovered”, signing a record deal and getting radio airplay or working clubs and small gigs ad nausium. The internet is clearly changing the paradigm because now the artists can go directly to the people in the form of MySpace pages, Facebook, Twitter, digital music services like iTunes and Rhapsody as well as pure music discovery tools like Pandora( not available in India). With the right music, the right approach to the internet and the right business sense - an artist can sell CDs and make a better living making music without being beholden to the record labels. Will they ever be HUGE without a label deal? not until the purchase of music digitally is the norm instead of the exception. Even then, it will be difficult to be U2 huge, but musicians that find a voice and an audience should be able to make a good middle class living doing what they love, providing great fan service and linking with other groups that are similar. This is getting good for both fans and musicians alike. I think this applies to India although our main source of distribution is still CD's in stores. Distributors are willing to put CD's in stores if you have a solid fan base and a good product. This is possible if musicians understand their niche. Distribution in Indian can also be done by a cash on delivery system by the Indian Postal service. 

Here is a video from Top spin