Comment by hecanjog

Independent music and independent publishing was, in my opinion, thriving even just 25 years ago in a rhizome of record shops and small venues which are getting stomped on by streaming culture and ecommerce platforms. It was certainly always hard, but also certainly doable if you put the work in to make the economics of it possible. It seems like now the same energy is going into carving out a following on ad-driven social media and streaming platforms, plus a dozen small side-hustles.

What I'm hopeful about though is that things like patreon are making the idea of supporting artists you appreciate directly somewhat more normal, but streaming platforms are not doing any favors for musicians in my opinion.