As has been discussed to death here, the days of the super producer are over. A&Rs think they can find the next dude on a message board or twitter (and they may be right, who knows).

So the idea of paying quality session musicians what they'd want to come in, and then getting such a small placement fee for their beats, and incredibly lower royalties due to diminishing sales, isn't appealing to a lot of people.

I know of one producer who has someone come in and replay stuff he's sampled, but I don't know the costs involved. Can't be cheap, right?

What we're gonna see more and more of, are keyboard and computer beats with no samples and no live instrumentation at all.

Hell, look at the producers who've emerged in the last few years.

Lex Luger
Jahlil Beats
Cardiak