here Wikipeida says 'The "oldest known song" was written in cuneiform, dating to 4,000 years ago' In 1877 - Edison made the first recording of a human voice ("Mary had a little lamb"). That means that people have enjoyed making money selling music recordings for at most 130 years. People have enjoyed making music for 30 times that long. Its possible the whole of selling music recordings to listeners is basically over. In the history of music, it basically never happened. It might be just a foot note. Unlike other products music is rewarding and valuable to the creator. There will never be a shortage of music. Part of the rewarding nature of music is sharing it with listeners. The entire basis of the record industry is about the business of capturing and distributing music. Capturing and distributing music once was a complex and difficult task. Now these tasks are insignificant to the entire enjoyable music creation process. As long as its easy and enjoyable to create and share recordings, its hard to require people to pay for it.