I agree it's not easy to pull off with no starting fan base, but isn't that true of breaking into the industry the old way too? An unknown band with no fan base is not going to have an easy time convincing an RIAA label to sign them and put out their album. I'm not sure their current problem (put out demos, find fans) is actually harder or lower-probability than the older problem was (put out demos, impress A/R person).