I think both are equal and important, BUT! what's killed it is...
They saturated the game with too much garbage (overload/over kill). Some of these mixtapes are not even hosted or "mixed" by a actual DJ. They just take the instumentals and spit a whole song. On top of all that, a [MIXTAPE] is supose to be FREE and should have the artist hottest shit on it.
It is simply a demo that shows the people what that artist is capable of. Which in return...makes them antisipate and actual album (builds the hype etc etc...)
Now a days, they selling mixtapes too! Everybody talking about "Get your money.", but it's either you gonna go for that fast buck and continue to stay broke, or you gonna take it back to the basics and go for the real money.
The music industry is at a stand still at this point. You have major artist not even reaching gold in some cases. The bar has been raised so high, gold isn't good enough no more. Platinum plus is what everybody wants today. Anything lower than that, is not good enough in some people's / labels opinions.
I feel you on back in the day where we'd simply pick up a Cd once we saw that record label logo stamped on it...we knew it was good. Today, sadly, that's no longer the case.
Back to the basics: Mixtapes should be FREE and have your hottest work on it. Quit tryin' to sell your mixtapes for 5's and 10's...this is 2008 and it's no longer a handful of rappers like back in the day. Everybody and they mama's are rapping today.
Albums should be just as hot, if not hotter and should be sold.