I have a musician friend that had a fairly successful (locally) independent band from around 2008 to 2012. I've talked to him a couple of time about the busine

I have a musician friend that had a fairly successful (locally) independent band from around 2008 to 2012. I've talked to him a couple of time about the business side of it - when the band started they managed to create a nice community of people that liked their music, even before they released their first album. People would go to concerts and buy a lot of merchandise and their CDs and even vinils when they recorded and released their music. He shared that with the popularization of streaming services, they lost a lot of their identity and this community lost a lot of force. At the same time, a lot more people were listening to their music (and still are), but the return to them was really low, both monetarily and in the sense of accomplishment of the band.