Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end for the music industry?

Digital downloading is by far the most popular form of gaining new music, whether its through legitimate programmes such as iTunes or the non legitimate ones like 'Limewire' and 'Napster' etc. With the ever increasing ease to uploading music onto the internet for others so download and copy for free, music companies are saying that it is destroying the industry and causing them to lose out on a vast amount of profits. However, although this is a solid argument, there is a very strong counter argument also. People that download a certain artists work wouldn't necessarily have bought the album int he first place and by downloading if for free it means that more people will listen to artist that might not have otherwise. this will expose them to a wider range of music and they will then be more likely to buy other albums by that artist in the future or go to a concert of theirs. this then in turn will prove to benefit the artist in the long run.
Although downloading does at first glance seem a great problem for the music industry, it will not be its downfall, if anything will in time increase profits etc. in the industry.