Wrong. Just look at classic concert ticket prices, high prices are only natural when you have to pay a whole orchestra but it is a barrier.
_classic_ concert... Umm... not only classic concerts are expensive, but all these big pop celebrities are pulling off quite high prices too. I really cant see the distinction. As this argument is not relevant since records are still sold averagely same price and as you said, interent and spotify has come to us. Imo that is pretty boundarybreaking.
Yes, of course Madonna or even ACDC have sky high prices.
150Ôé¼ for one evening seems to be the norm. Crazy.
But for example Trouble & Pentagram was 18Ôé¼ (still alot for me, 20 is my limit for concerts) and I would consider these band really legendary, same level as Black Sabbath.
I googled a bit and even some "casual concert" orchester thing already starts at 30Ôé¼, for more well known stuff its in the 150Ôé¼ range and you would probally need correct dressing.
Even if I am no fan of classic, a good full orchester with choir might at least be impressive.
Would you rather listen to some youtube link using laptop speakers or to this:

Now imagine a giant concert hall with cool architecture, lightning etc...
Rock and metal follow different rules, and that is not to copy riffs from other artists [...]the overall drive is to create something original and catches the attention and keeps the listener captivated.
Uhm, not sure. Tons of bands borrow from Black Sabbath, many bands sound like Amebix, Hellhammer, Venom or early Bolt Thrower.
Thats ok, not every song has to be super creative.
Amorphis only vaguely catches my attention in the fact that it's pretty (and from a technical standpoint I really like the music), but the songs go in no defined direction.
I see what you mean. A little bit more "pop" and they would drift into the Nightwish (

) area. Not as "raw" as some others, but imo nice for a change.
I think todays mainstream music is so popular because it is made in a way to sound good on the car radio, played from crappy handy speakers etc. or low volume tv in the background. Most music would just get lost or sound like noise but popopopopopopokerface gets through.
Also most people listen to radio maybe 30 minutes a day when driving to work. In this time they want to hear some news, something old from the 80s, the newest hit and then maybe something funny.
So if radio program is made to meet these needs, no wonder it sucks?
Actually I would not be so bad if they would not play the same fucking songs all the time. "Umbrella ella ella" or "i've got a feeling tonights gonna be a good good night" would be so gay if they the song rotation was better. Did these artists never do any other songs?
But no, the same song must be played over and over to get it into the single charts. When its on position 1, it will be played more. omg.
Even "rock" (often called "classic rock", what a stupid name) seems to consider of "smoke on the water" and "eye of the tiger" and nothing else. WTF.