Of course some don't believe the future of the record labels and the future of the wider music business necessarily go hand in hand, and certainly 2008 saw more artists reject record companies altogether and release their own music, either financing it themselves or by raising cash through other means - sponsorship or private equity for the big bands, fan-funding sites like Slice The Pie, Bandstocks and Sellaband for less established artists.
Such self-financing artists can then hire a marketing and distribution agency to handle those other areas of releasing music normally handled by a label - like McFly did when they self-released their 2008 album 'Radio:ACTIVE'. Or they can licence their completed album to a label, major or more likely indie, as Radiohead did with the 2008 physical release of their 2007 long player 'In Rainbows', distributed in the UK by Beggars' XL Recordings label.