If you have some kind of simple "big bucks" income like engineering, that basically removes the need to do unsavory things in order to make music. Well, yeah,

If you have some kind of simple "big bucks" income like engineering, that basically removes the need to do unsavory things in order to make music. Well, yeah, sure...but it shouldn't be that way. Labels have been the gatekeepers for well over half a century and have barely budged in terms of their dominance. It's largely like every other entrenched industry in the country: they're literally too big to fail. Any "innovation" is either sued out of existence or bought out.