At any stage in the process, from sheet music, to home taping, to Napster and beyond, we could point at the previous era's panic and say "ha ha, those old fools

At any stage in the process, from sheet music, to home taping, to Napster and beyond, we could point at the previous era's panic and say "ha ha, those old fools, sheet music didn't kill our vibrant music culture", and then go on to assume that, quite likely, nothing ever could. And yet it sure seems like something is broken in the music industry in 2023. It feels like right now would be one of the least certain times in history to be a talented, dedicated musician who wants to make a living, let alone get rich and famous. So, something changed. I think the tendency for many people is to just say that the reason for all this is the greed of the non-artistic, non-consumer parts of the music industry, but certainly it has nothing to do with me or my choices. I think that's probably self-serving position, and if we really looked at it we would find ourselves uncomfortably in an ecosystem where consumers demand immediate fulfillment of their desire, the industry rushes to give it to them without thinking about the future, and artists either adapt, or get replaced. I did a lot of home taping. I did a lot of bittorrenting. Now I pay for Spotify, but haven't bought an album (physically or digitally) in years. I think I might have helped kill the music industry, and that's probably a bad thing.