djm34, for the publishers, maybe (likely not) but in no way can it be considered bad for the artists themselves. If anything it gives the artists far more leverage to use their fanbase to push the labels in a better direction.
It can also be argued that with the cost savings the labels and producers will receive (speed of transactions, far less time to clear payments and reconcile all of the thousands of moving pieces each digital purchase comes along with) can be used to earn labels more money over all because they are receiving a larger piece of the pie by having to do less work overall.