People also forget the stranglehold the big labels had on the industry and retail. CDs were often expensive too - I remember paying £18 for albums from a large mainstream shop in the late 90s, not obscure but not ones that would have been in the charts. Compare that to the price of seeing that artist live at a proper music venue (not stadia) in a big city at the time - £40ish, maybe less.

Maybe my memory isn't great, but the market has been stretched with live music becoming substantially more expensive, while recorded music has become substantially cheaper.

I feel like if you want to be a professional musician, then that's exactly what you should be expecting to do with your time - playing music to people, not recording once and expecting to live off royalties forever. Recordings should be seen as marketing for the live performance.

I'm not really a fan, but Gary Numan is a case in point. He's been gigging forever and has made a point of making sure his tickets are affordable so his fans could continue to enjoy his shows, ensuring a lifelong revenue stream.