Yes, convenience is a big plus for illegally downloaded music. But I believe, some sort of middleman will remain in the digital world. Their value proposition

Yes, convenience is a big plus for illegally downloaded music. But I believe, some sort of middleman will remain in the digital world. Their value proposition is reducing transaction costs -- the costs associated with finding content that's worth to be produced, promoting it, distributing it to a place near you, and managing all monetary transactions. Yes, distribution is a no-brainer in the digital world. All other points, however, remain valid. And as far as I know, concerts and tours are expenses for lesser known bands, not money makers. In general, planning a tour is a very risky business. Today, a band may recoup some of the expense by selling physical stuff (CDs or merchandising). In the digital world, only merchandising remains. On a side note, producers are currently struck in the world of physical copies because there's no reliable copyright enforcement method. Otherwise, they would have embraced it years ago. It's simply less expensive to make digital copies (and therefore generates higher profit if prices stay the same). Under the premise of the OP, buying music would be as convenient as getting a illegal copy, I'd say.