On the State of the Music Industry

I know it's not the nicest thing to say, but every perspective on this thread is somehow ridiculous... the most common mistake being to confuse one's personal situation with the state of the music business as a whole. Sometimes brilliant artists just don't make it out of bad luck, personal problems, whatever. But just as often as not, it's because they're not doing all the right things.
Now the pirating craze and youtube, yada yada, has created a huge shift in the music industry. Suddenly, the whole virtual world has no true need to pay for music. So many artists and record labels aren't getting paid for their product. While it's happening it's actually a good thing for American music as art. Suddenly all these talented underground bands don't have to wait around to be discovered: there's at least a possibility of making it big with a little internet promotion. The Jay Z's, Green Day's, and Eric Clapton's of the world(not to truly knock those artists) now have to compete with even more talented minds of their genre who've been selling weed, participating in anarchist riots, or wandering around the crossroads of Mississipi.
Of course, everybody and their cousin is trying to do that. But those artists who do something truly awesome and INNOVATIVE have a good chance(expertise coupled with creativity is rare enough in any field or era.)
But it's a gold-rush time in the music industry. It won't be long before independent artists can't break through so easily again... and people will have to pay for their music again. I don't know how it will happen, or care that it does, but it's the nature of the world... as I see it.