Big name artists can pull off the self distribution thing because they already have a following.
Indie labels (like mine) don't have the funds to get their product out in front of people to see if they like it. At least itunes kinda changes that. You can go listen to and buy Kyria -Whispers In The Dark (self plug) almost anywhere in the world now (on itunes, emusic, etc. -Amazon soon!).
The trouble is, I can't get radio play for Feeling Good so that enough people will want to buy it that we can afford to do this full time and come up with more good tunes.
I don't have the payola, er marketing money to do this. Universal does have the marketing money and connections to make 'crap' popular.
I fear the music biz either needs the big bad marketing machine, or will be so filled with cheaply produced, blanched music that music will have lost all value (even though there WILL be killer artists out there, finding out about them will be hard).
Adapt Universal et al, or risk ruining everything!
My $.02