I think pg has missed the ball on this one as well.

Publishing as an institution is not going anywhere. Publishers serve many functions. For one they act like a content filter, whereby they screen artists and select only the ones they deem talented enough to throw their weight behind. People generally do not have the time to visit every lounge act or download every yahoo's demo tape online. In this sense publishers are like a brand, and while people's consensus of "the music industry" might not readily distinguish between different labels currently, I bet that's where the music publishing business is headed.

Another institution of publishing is the advertising/exposure angle. Publishers will pay for the tv spots, radio commercials, etc. to get exposure to the artist. They will distribute material to the radio stations, which in turn have a vested interest in playing high quality content and also don't have the time to download every yahoo's song off the internet. In this sense radios are much more aware of the particular branding aspects of music labels.

Finally, another institution of publishing is mentoring and resources. If you sign to a major label, you get access to choirs, instrumentals, singing coaches, song writers, and various other industry veterans. You have high quality sound studios to record, etc.

The main reason the music industry is feeling a tight squeeze is not so much that people don't want to pay for content, it's that people are paying for content differently. The music publishing business' backbone is record sales. The industry was structured around having one or two hit songs on a record being enough to sell a quarter of a million units. With itunes, you can download just the hit songs for a fraction of the cost. All of a sudden your profit margins just went through the floor for a sizable chunk of your customer base.

That doesn't mean the institution of music publishing is going away, it just means they will have to get operationally more efficient if they want to maintain their profit margins.

The music publishing industry would truly feel threatened if online crowd sourcing was a viable alternative to discovering new music talent, but even then I believe their role would still be valuable. Also crowd sourcing on the internet has largely been unsuccessful for discovering new artists, last.fm is basically the billboard top 200 remixed.

Also the bit about publishers selling content and equating that with information is way off. True, people will usually only buy information which makes them money, but music is very different. People will buy it because it makes them happy. Same with buying movies, books, etc. It's a completely different metaphor, and in fact the marketing adige is people will only buy things which make them healthier, happier, or richer.

Also, the bit about publishers selling formats, this is also slightly off base. If anything publishers take advantage of formats due to perceived convenience. CDs cost more then cassette tapes because for one thing the format was developed by the music industry so they had complete control over pricing. For another thing the format had a built in convenience factor which customers simply were willing to pay for. With iTunes controlling the internet distribution channel, publishers are not in control to set the prices like they used to.

Also about books, I agree Kindle will of course be superseded, but is the Kindle itself important or again is it the content? Notice Amazon also releases a Kindle Reader for the iPhone with access to the same content. Do you really think there will be a point where people can no longer be bothered to pay for books? The book industry has largely been unscathed by the digital era and I don't see a reason why that would change any time soon.

Newspapers is a whole other ball game. The industry is changing due in large part to the speed that information spreads. People don't subscribe to papers because all the news they need is online, available instantly. The main audience for newspapers has traditionally been the informed customer, and these people generally are having internet and know where to find information online. That's why your friend doesn't want your New York Times, and why less and less people are subscribing. The newspaper concept though is similar to the content filter of music publishing, in that newspapers are brands which have vested interest in maintaining their integrity. They also have access to a wide network of trusted reporters from all over the world. Again this will be a case of the evolution of a business model, but newspapers as a whole have a much harder struggle due to the evolution of information on the web. Newspapers should be discussed in an entirely different light from music IMO.