The problem is there is only so much profit to be had. The recording industry is not interested in trying to sell their own product digitally at a price consumers want. So instead, either a company is large enough and entrenched enough (like Google with Youtube) that that company is able to capture the profit, and the music industry complains, or the company is small enough that the music industry captures the profit, and the company goes under or operates at a loss (too many to name, but Spotify and Pandora both fall under this).
There may not be a good split, that sees both the recording company and the distributor seeing a profit, at the prices consumers are willing to pay, which if the case explains why they've fought tooth and nail against every form of digital distribution. But I don't see how the recording companies can stay afloat without it. It may be we'll have to see how music works without them.