Perhaps I may attempt to clarify. I think it's next to impossible to make a living from your recordings. The point I was trying to make is that those recordings are still the centrepiece of what an artist does. It's just that balance has shifted.
Let's give the best example. The Beatles quit touring and just made records. Obviously, this may be a bad example because it is the most popular band ever, but they could afford to do that. You could not afford to do that now. You could not afford to quit touring and just make records because the money you make from your recordings has shrunk to almost nothing.