No I don’t think it’s better, the focus on one artists popularity and suppression of access to the other millions of artists is not a reason to go back to the heavy gatekeeping of the industry.

Let’s also not forget even the period you’re taking about for every major like Bieber there were thousands of 1 hit wonders who went nowhere.

Like everything in life, holding onto what was a horrible system that endeavoured to destroy the artists they promoted for the sake of nostalgia is not the way forward.

Record labels were selling the artist on the idea of Fame, not buying them for their talent or music. Artists had their egos fed and bank accounts robbed.

People are also far more connected than ever before and people can find new artists with ease, the music industry does not need major artists, the music industry is evolving as people evolve and our connected world evolves and more unique artists create their own platform. The public is the arbitrator of the success.

The current system is on a much better projection for the artists than ever before. Now an artists can go viral on tiktok and distribute their music globally with no record label.