i only wanted someone to reply.
seriously, i think there could still be a chance. who thought that moz would come back as he did in 2004? it's unlikely that kind of thing will happen again but you never know.
I basically agree with you, that's why I said, above, that he may need to change how he gets his product out there. Making a big splash every year or two with a new single, album, and tour might not be feasible for him anymore. But if he re-worked his strategy he might have more options with respect to releasing music straight to the fans. I don't claim to know all of the angles, but surely he has enough capital by now to record material on his own and release it directly to fans via download, for example. Find ways to cut out the need for a bigger label to distribute his music, essentially. Doesn't he record vocals in two or three takes? Isn't his band capable of recording a new single in two or three days, as The Smiths did? What is so expensive about putting out a Morrissey record, anyway?
If YOR is only selling to his hardcore fan base, and it has sold about 200k copies, then the math isn't hard. Limit traditional marketing. Use the TV contacts he's made over the years to appear on the various shows. Get back on good terms with the music press. Start a YouTube channel. Build online support (E.G. MAKE MORRISSEY-SOLO.COM A FULLY UTILIZED ASSET). Sell the album over the web for $10 a pop, maybe throw in some "singles" with B-sides. Work with good but unheralded producers or become the sole producer himself (working with an engineer).
If he sells 200k downloads at $10 each that's $2 million dollars gross. If the overhead is low, he walks away with quite a bit. Throw in tours and he's living comfortably, keeping the fans happy with music, and best of all free from the clutches of the music industry. Right? I mean I know my calculations are crude and the picture I've painted is much too simplistic, but isn't what I've outlined essentially viable?
Creatively speaking the freedom from trying to make the charts might also encourage him to branch out and experiment musically.
I don't think any of this will happen, just saying.