That ol' ball and chain...

Without the record companies, many musicians would be left without the big advertising dollars that come along with those record contracts. But what about the bright side: freedom to do what you want. Along with those big dollars, record companies also initiate a lot of control into the creative aspects of a band. The sound, the image, the attitude,; in short... the things that make a band a band.
Without a record company dragging me down, what would I do to get my music to my fans? How would I make the money to keep on keepin' on? Well, the answer to me seems quite simple: to the fans! As a musician, you have to be willing to travel to where the interest is. Back in the Jazz days when American music was making it's burst into the popular scene, musicians would go on "tour," as it were, to make a name for themselves. Nicknamed the "Chitland Circuit," artists would make stops in every little town they could and play gigs. Back then there was no such thing as record companies like we know them today, so people had to just get out there and make their stuff known.

Without a record company today. We would see things much similar now as they did then. We'd see a larger variety of music, we'd see more hardworking artists, we'd see passion in music, we'd see more art, and less of an industry. Technology these days allows even the smallest of bands to record their own stuff with decent sound. Many beginning artists sell their music for cheap or even give it away for free to create a buzz. The larger the band gets, the more people would be willing to pay for these CDs or MP3s at live shows or events.

So in the end, although we'd see much less grandiose shows and pristine music recordings, we would see and hear much more music from the hands of the artists... and that's what music was meant for in the first place, right?