In an essay that seems to go nowhere — fast, Kevin Maney’s short-sightedness is ridiculous. How, exactly, are labels going to grow artists who can then get “sponsorships” or sell hundred-dollar concert tickets.

Supposedly, Myspace and blogs and music-focused social networking sites will do that for us, right? But in a day and age when bands are chewed up and swallowed whole and shat out before they can even put out an album, why isn’t anyone asking the right questions about artist development? I understand that it’s all about the bottom line, but as with nearly every industry these days, quantity is blowing quality out of the water.

Not to be crass, but you can’t create brand loyalty without a product.