My point is, and always has been that the people as a whole no longer play a part in the creation and dissemination - it is no more 'ours' than a tin of processed peas bought at Sainsburys
Our only role is as a customer.

It could be that - against expectations - that we are getting somewhere. A real difference is in the commodification of pop music. A pop song is presented by the music industry as the finished object with the recording, the image, the video etc. all bundled to make the complete commodity. This has led to the the proliferation of 'tribute' bands who try their damnest to reproduce the product by attempting to be as close a clone of the original as they can manage.

With performance of a traditional song and tunes, it has always seemed to me that there are three planes operating and I always try to use as an analogy - three dimensions.
One plane is the song or tune itself.
A second plane is the performance that the current performer learned from.
The third plane is what the current performer brings to it.

This analogy held good for traditional song and music for millennia. I remember Mike Seeger saying that you don't have to go that far back in time to reach the days when the only way you could hear a song or tune was if that performer was in the room with you.

From the time when the printed word became widespread, the situation has become more complex. These complexities mean that unless a basis for the parameters of any discussion can be agreed then all you are likely to get is circumlocution - and I'm afraid that is what has happened in this long thread.