The problem there is that what has been in the best interests of both the consumer AND the artist has been the death of the old, crooked, music /distribution/ industry.
That used to be just because they were crooked and cooking the books (how else do you explain millions in sales again and again without any substantive profit to the artist to show for it); which is still true.
What's true now is that they simply aren't necessary. Digital distribution offers a far more efficient and direct distribution method.
Bringing this back to Valve; publishing physical copies of games/etc is now far more something to do for collectors as a bonus. Access to the games themselves are handled via Valve, GoG, humble 'indie' bundle, etc.
> The problem there is that what has been in the best interests of both the consumer AND the artist has been the death of the old, crooked, music /distribution/ industry.
I don't suspect music distributors have much longer to go really.
That used to be just because they were crooked and cooking the books (how else do you explain millions in sales again and again without any substantive profit to the artist to show for it); which is still true.
What's true now is that they simply aren't necessary. Digital distribution offers a far more efficient and direct distribution method.
Bringing this back to Valve; publishing physical copies of games/etc is now far more something to do for collectors as a bonus. Access to the games themselves are handled via Valve, GoG, humble 'indie' bundle, etc.