In the classical era, wealthy patrons contributed the fixed costs - training of musicians, providing room and board and practice time for sponsored composers an

In the classical era, wealthy patrons contributed the fixed costs - training of musicians, providing room and board and practice time for sponsored composers and musicians, etc.. In the 20th century, the "record companies" covered the fixed costs - recording, distribution etc.. They did so by offering only contracts that were economically very unfavorable to the artists, and using some of the revenue from the more popular acts to finance others that they hoped would make money for them (not for the artists). Today, unless a musician is foolish enough to sign up for the old-style ripoff contract, it's DIY. But the fixed costs have declined - the musicians invest in practicing their craft at their own expense, and pay for instruments as always, but low-to-mid-quality recording and internet distribution are orders of magnitude cheaper than the old means of $100/hour studios and hauling boxes of CDs to stores.