As many great classic rock shows as there are, have you ever gone to a classic rock concert and ask yourself why are these guys performing when they simply can't hit the notes anymore? The answer is because they need the money.

Donald Fagan, co-founder and lead singer of Steely Dan is being forced to go back on the road because he can no longer afford to live off his album sales. For the Passaic native "retirement" has become a casualty of the new way we buy music. Fagan tells the Wall Street Journal.

When the bottom fell out of the record business a bunch of years ago, it deprived me of the luxury of earning a living from records. I don’t sell enough albums to cover the cost of recording them the way I like to. For me, touring is the only way to make a living.

While this is great for the consumer who gets to see more shows, it sucks for the artists who thought they were going to live off their music annuity. People are now buying music services instead of albums because for the price of an album, you can get a month's worth of access to about 30,000 songs. This begs the question if future artists can't make money selling their music, how are they going to be able to turn albums like those classic artists. Will music become a singles market or has it already done that?

Maybe that's why we need these classic artists to go on as long as they can, even if it is a Ronnie James Dio halogram. 

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