Here's how the RIAA (i.e., the big labels) will die - not with a bang, but with a whimper:

Tunecore is playing a dangerous game. They are a music publishing service operating at minimal costs, and they have contracts with iTunes and Rhapsody allowing artists to sell their music on two of the most powerful music sellers.

Prior to the creation of Tunecore, this was the domain of the record labels - essentially meaning the Big Four: Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner. The Big Four occupy a uniquely powerful position - known in economic terms as an oligopoly - where the entire global market is made up of just 4 companies. Over 75% of all music sold worldwide comes from these four - and they work together to hold a life-and-death grip over artists and the industry.

Tunecore may not be the one to knock the RIAA down, but something like it will. There are just tons of bands producing good music out there (my cousin plays drums for one of them). Unlike the surgically enhanced sex symbols tossed our way by the labels, these bands can carry a tune without voice enhancement. As the costs of producing music fall, and the process of selling music to the likes of iTunes and Amazon gets disintermediated, the industry will go through a sea change. The whole DRM war we're seeing now is the dying gasp of a set of people who can't - or won't - see the future.