The music industry is doing pretty decently. Streaming revenues are significant and industry revenue has been growing for years.
https://pitchfork.com/features/article/the-record-industry-e...
For the artists themselves, live touring looks to be their most reliable way to make money.
I'm more inclined to think that streaming revenue will plateau around ~$10-13B. It makes sense that demand for streaming is a bit more than demand for CDs, because it allows cheaper monetization of the long tail and recurring revenue. However, I'd be surprised if the industry ever pushes over that $21.5B inflation-adjusted peak again though.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-sales/
Rent-seeking music labels have done a good job determining the maximum amount that consumers are willing to pay for music. Now we as consumers should make an effort to ensure the maximum percentage of revenue reaches artist. UMG siphoning 85% of revenue is abhorrent.
It's one thing to steal and acknowledge it, but it's a completely different thing to steal and pretend as if you're doing the world a favor and standing up for disadvantaged people. You stealing music helps you and only you at the expense of others. You're cheapening legitimate anti-capitalist rhetoric by abusing it for such a self-important and intellectually void purpose.
The equivalence between cultural content sharing and theft was manufactured by the intellectual property lobby in recent history.
None of moral reasons for prohibiting theft apply to intellectual property. The marginal cost of production is zero. Society is poorer for enabling the greedy to charge admission for access to culture and information.
You're free to make your own calculus, but it seems that your opinion is in the minority here.
What is your definition of 'music theft' that is distinct from sharing music?
The right to determine the terms by which their product is distributed.
When you want something, and you don’t want to pay for it.
Supply has exploded exponentially. Music is never going to be as profitable as it was previously (and it wasn't very profitable previously). Their lack of a modern business model is not a valid reason to rent-seek the poor if they want to participate in culture.