I, personally believe that record companies and artists make comparitively VERY little from downloads, and even less from streaming, compared to the companies that host such services. Apple have pretty much got it wrapped, and then to add insult to injury, they avoid paying tax on the vast sums they milk out of the music industry.
It's become a necessary evil to be involved with it, because otherwise the artists would get cock all from the traffic of their music at all.
As regards the consumer, it's all a matter of personal choice. At home, when it comes to just audio listening, I don't play digital music AT ALL. The whole concept of it is repulsive to me. If it doesn't go on a good old fashioned turntable, then it doesn't get played. I appreciate that others might actually like an empty house, but I enjoy having stuff I've worked for, around me. Personal choice.
Anyway, your analogy of a bag of coal, would have been better suited if you had downloaded a picture of a nice warm fireplace, as that would be about as real, in the physical world, as a downloaded piece of music.
