Yes, this was a big deal in the evolution from music from the Renaissance to post-Renaissance. Normally musicians were employed by the wealthy, often church an

Yes, this was a big deal in the evolution from music from the Renaissance to post-Renaissance. Normally musicians were employed by the wealthy, often church and royalty. This rather limited the variety of music coming out. The French Revolution, and related social change rather downgraded the importance and wealth of royalty. Some of this related social change was the Industrial Revolution, which helped create more of a middle class and spread the wealth around, also consolidating people more in cities. So then, you had sorta the same problems any entrepreneur has. You go from having a boss...to having thousands. So they could and did compose different stuff, but the composers who ate well were the ones who could write popular stuff. Obviously they could push the envelope a bit as there's always those who appreciate novelty. So they went after the folks who now had disposable income, in the places where they were conveniently lumped together (as the geographic distribution wasn't quite as favorable before then, and the working classes didn't really have the spare money anyway).