Music - industry + web2.0 = good?

Dave Dederer is on stage and talking about the impact of the music industry's business model on artist creativity and sharing of media. He's now associated with a firm called Pyramid Communications that is looking to integrate the old music model into the new Web 2.0 space. The extreme ends of the market groups are now much more accessible since blogs and active content let artists reach them anytime and anywhere. Is it right to connect the listeners directly with the artists and cut out most of the industry middle men (lawyers, promo artists, advertisers, etc.)? Eventful.com is trying to put more monetary support around live events so independent artists can hold gigs cheaper and with better turnout. IODA.com is a new alliance that seeks to connect independent artists with bloggers and let the sites promote their content. Artists on myspace have millions of hits on their independently-produced and posted music yet there's no revenue for them on it – where can they get the dough? The Presidents of the United States currently make a ton of money off of their relationship with the iTunes Music Store. Apple controls 85% of the downloadable music market; are they losing sight of actually connecting listeners with artists? They control the vertical chain (hard+software). Should artists care if the music industry gets democratized? Remove the glamour and the fame at the top and you could flatten the chain - making it easier for artists to promote and manage themselves.