In the Beginning, it cost a bundle to stamp and promote a record. One of 10,000 artists who chased a recording contract got lucky. Of those, a few became Big Names. Even got houses, cars, pool boys and chamber maids as hot as those enjoyed by recording execs.

As for creations by the undiscovered… like trees falling deep in a forest, they didn’t make a sound, vanishing without a trace. The old system was swept aside by the Internet, p2p file sharing networks, home recording studios, and iPods.

Musicians can share their art and develop their skills, build reputations, and sell their CDs on sites like SongRamp and CD Baby, which leads to more butts filling seats at concerts, which leads to more CD sales.

Listeners search for fresh faces by genre or consult sales and review charts, then try the music before plunking down their hard-earned cash.

It’s all perfectly transparent with no monthly charges or additional fees for burning songs to CD (a la Napster). All with self-perceived talent are welcome to submit music. If a lot of folks like your work, you’ll earn a huge living. Earnings scale down from there, all the way down to… well… the Internet can be a brutally critical space.

So where do the record moguls fit in this low-budget, everybody-gets-a- shot picture? They don’t… but they could.

Those who still have a bit of street-cred could take a page from c/net’s Download.com shareware site. Encourage all artists to upload, then promise downloaders “Safe, Trusted and Spyware-Free” music, combined with music reviews, listener voting, etc., just like the smaller competitors. The Brand Name will do the rest.

Will lower retail prices stop free file sharing? Nope. The lunatic fringe of the P2P universe won’t lay out a dime, no matter what. But reasonable pricing will put a whole lot more folks in the purchasing camp, while easing some of the legal threats facing network managers trying to stomp out illicit file sharing.

There you have it. Use the brand name to attract artists and visitors, provide a system that people consider worth the price, and make sure the talent gets its due.

Can Big Music make a living like this? Tiny distributor CD Baby claims it’s paid about US$21 million to artists since 1998. Those who follow this path may have to shed a few pool boys, but at least they’ll be around to explain the new model to their shareholders… maybe.

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