Oh, come on Marc... The "music industry" is not that old. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were recording in a garage back when producers were still beating the bushes looking for opportunities to make money. Now, you can't get a producer's attention without money... Travel has always been part of the equation lol.

I could be wrong... but... the way I see it, music has always been one of those things that musicians look at an say, "Well, if he can do it so can I." So, it simply didn't take very long for the market to become saturated with both producers and musicians. The biggest change I see today is musicians becoming their own producers.

https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandid=1449856