For more than a decade, the recording industry has been complaining that online copyright infringement is devastating the music industry. And it's true that the revenues of conventional record labels has plunged in recent years.
To be sure, the industry hasn't enjoyed the strong growth it saw in previous decades. Revenues are down slightly since the peak about a decade ago. But there are still plenty of opportunities to earn a living making music fans love.
Update (October 10): The recording industry disputes the data underlying this chart, arguing that it double-counts some of the revenue in the "publishing" category. The Recording Industry Association of America estimates that music industry revenues fell by 27 percent between 2001 and 2012.