i think its too easy to forget that musicians throughout history have not really made much money.
before the days of the record industry, musicians were the guys round the campfire, or in the village pub who entertained everyone mostly for free, they got their reward from the buzz and the appreciation of the rest.
they were just ordinary guys, infact it was more normal to be able to play an instrument than not.
the record industry came along and they still didnt make any money, because they got ripped off. only a tiny handful of musicians have had enough control over their destiny to actually avoid being ripped off.
and so now we are being ripped off by the pirates, it doesnt supprise me one bit.
its also too easy to make electronic music, set up a web based label and get your stuff out there, so its easy to delude yourself that you should be making money.
i was lucky enough to be running independant labels in the 1980's and 1990's and selling relatively large numbers of records compared to today, but it still wasnt easy to make money, you had to rely on gigs just like today.
i've lost interest in releasing music at the moment, my label is on hold, while i decide what to do, but selling a few hundred downloads just seems like a waste of energy to me and so i'm going to put my energy into doing something very different in the live arena, and bring out the occasional nicely packaged vinyl release for the collectors and vinyl DJs.(most of my favourite DJs still are using vinyl)
if the music is quality and timeless, it will sell and only gain in value over time, much better than a forgotten mp3 on some old out of date full hardrive in the back of someones junk cupboard.
the last time i looked Mindtours 06 from my label was selling at up to 60 euros on discogs.
when i was in various bands in the 1980's we gained our reputation from being exciting live acts, and you sold your records on the basis of that, it seems now that its the other way round, you have to saturate the already saturated market with your hurriedly put together releases in the vein hope you'll get noticed and get some gigs off the back of it.
i'm going back to the old school method. im not saying its going to work, but i'm excited about getting off of this pointless rollercoaster and trying something different. theres absolutely no point in getting down about the situation, as soon as it became possible to digitise music, it was already too late.
stay positive guys
These guys' music also end up on blogs, and if you sell 150 copies, making a loss, and you see that the ripped track gets downloaded 4000 times on a blog, then it leaves a bitter aftertaste. And I think those labels should indeed make sure the music is available everywhere, also digitally, just to avoid situations like you described perfectly: people wanting to pay for your music but who can't find your product.