Kinda already has, I still buy albums because I listen to a lot of bands where the members probably still have day jobs. Online streaming killed the MP3 and itunes market.
@ARE_you_kidding_me Yes but 99 per song is more than fair price even with the existance of online streaming. I mean don’t people know that supporting the artists benefits all not just the artists.
Buying music, in any format, rarely benefits the artist financially. If you really want to benefit the artist save the cash, stream the music and buy the artist’s merch, or a ticket to see them in concert, instead.
When I was in bands 20 years ago we basically only recovered costs with t-shirts and stuff and we lost money recording studio quality demos. Had we had free access to distribute the music directly online like musicians have now it probably would have been different.
^^^ Yup. Merchandise is about the only avenue for income that musicians can both retain control of and has a workable profit margin (especially items like shirts).