I think the old model still works, and that's what I'll go by. The artists flooding the market I would look at as a 1-hit wonder. I'm signing to a single deal, and put that 1-2 track on overkill.
Everyone else, we're gonna nurture that album. Even if it only takes 1 month to record, we're gonna work the hell out of it. Drop 1 single, a street single, we have some cuts that won't make the album that we can drop here n there, video, a couple of guest appearances...there's no need for mixtapes, since we're gonna rely on the quality of the main project. This will be a 1.5 - 2 year plan.
That's what I think is missing today, and if labels went back to working albums, the game would filter itself out. Mixtapes get in the way of the main project, especially while your working on the main.