Sure, but look at iTunes.  Make the product (music in this case) reasonably priced and people seem to be happy to buy the legit versions of music.  Piracy will always be around, alas, but with good enough platforms, I don't buy your statement that the market will not be able to support the artist and author...

Is that true?  In a lot of cases, yes.  In all of them?  Absolutely not.  I've read a lot about a guy named Hugh Howey.  Ever heard of him?  If you haven't, well...that's the amazing thing.  The guy wrote a couple books that sold so well that he made seven figures on them.  Yes, that's right, seven figures, over one million dollars in one year on his novels. 

Granted, he is in the top 1% or more of recently published authors, but my point is that it IS possible.  And probably more so with written work like novels than music because the stuff's enough longer that I think more people are willing to pay for novels / books than they are for music where it may just be a 5 minute song.