But on a personal level i don't agree with some of your thoughts on whats ethical, but I'll leave it at that.
So you have no problem with music today. fair enough. Personally I feel the lack of artist development has had a severe impact on the quality of the music these companies have been putting out. In theory letting them grow on there own and then picking them at their peak sounds good, but the issue is the extra pressure it puts on the artists to conform to make those sales by the first quarter. I hear it all the time when an independent artist signs to a major label release. There major label releases are generally far more inferior.
Again, at the end of the day it's a business. The entire purpose and point is to generate profit by creating products that people will buy. People now have the ability to create and distribute their music with very little expense so if they're that worried about being watered down or losing control of their "creativity" then they shouldn't try to sign a recording contract because that's the moment it becomes business. My advice is still that they make whatever music they want and use any of the numerous tools available to get it out that doesn't involve participating in the music business. That's the only way their music will remain pure.
How many truly great artists do you really think there are? Truth be told most of these cats are disposable and easily replaced.