[thaumasiotes]

> Because here, in the post-industrial world, it's very hard to make a living from one-off works of craftsmanship. That didn't used to be the case

Yes it did; that was always the case. There's no requirement that art be produced by people who need the money.

[lmm]

When the only way to hear a symphony was to hire an orchestra to play it every time, it was easy for a musician to make a living playing symphonies. Now that you can record one playthrough once and reproduce it for free, it's much harder - supply goes up, so the price goes down.

Substitute playing music for your creative endeavour of choice.

[rjaco31]

That's bullshit. Most of the greatest music compositors through History were broke as shit, even when being famous while being alive.