I am sure a lot more people than ever before are able to live from their art. There are just a few hundred million more fishing in the same pool for attention.
The rat race is everywhere, anything worth achieving comes with the same old ingredients.
But the pool has grown to the size of an ocean, to extend the metaphor.
A lot of the discussion about stuff like this relies on some idea that actually itās the same or better, and I just donāt buy it.
Honestly the era of making a decent living with art was really, really short. Basically from the early-mid 20th century to whenever internet came with full force, maybe late noughts. And the reason artists, mostly writers and musicians could get paid was capitalism and industrialization. Iād blame digitalization rather than hypercapitalism for the downfall of writer or musician as a middle class job.
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I agree, itās neither. Times changed, itās not the same. Standing out is always going to be difficult imho, zeitgeist rules.
Edit:
2022: twisting some knobs on a few cool music boxes is not going to cut it to make a living. No big deal 
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I think the āoceanā is much bigger and diverse todayā¦
look at how many websites we have, all requiring design, media and photographic inputā¦
or games, or even thing like tv outputā¦
as has been said previously, media consumption (which includes graphics, photography, music) has exploded over recent years - so this has no doubt provided many opportunities.
now, Iām not saying this is āqualityā , but who are we to judge what society values?
but I also donāt think we do artists in these industries any favours saying they are āselling outā to commercialism - I expect many are being as creative as they can within the constraints they are setā¦ (and isnāt art partly about being creative with constraints 
)
like it or not, I think we have to move with the timesā¦ and adapt, rather than hark back to the good olā days . (which we are possibly guilty of looking at nostalgically )
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Amen to that
standing out might be an art of the pastā¦
I come from a long line of farm workers, tin miners, and hauliers, all of whom worked themselves half to death for next to fuck all money. And if you asked any of them how they felt about their lot in life, theyād say they were lucky that they had a job and food on the table.
I think our generation can be a bit guilty of turning a drama into a crisis where this sort of thing is concerned. Yeah, itās hard to make money making music, but it aināt fucking coal mining, is it.
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I agree, it does not mean being famous, itās having 100/0? folks who buy every month some stuff from you. Just like the good old bakery down the street, F#$& the supermarket (most of the time).
I have an old friend, pro drummer. Lost most of his income with the plague. He is also a great drawer. He started designing cards for friends and fam. Got recommended a lot and is now doing fine with that creative outlet. This is al very local, but it works he is good and people care so spend a bit more for an OG design from the artist they know playing drums for 40 years.
Funny anecdote as regards getting paid vs. artistic freedom. Thereās this Swedish metal guitarist named Ola Englund (The Haunted) who has a fairly popular Youtube channel. Just came across his new video where heās talking about how his āregular channelā has grown so big now (700k subs) that it kinda ālocks him inā, so heās started a second Youtube channel to allow himself some creative freedom.
So yeah, that to me is making a living out of music in 2022 in a nutshell.
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he plays cover songs and reviews gear. not quite my dream of being a musician.
I thought he had his own guitar company?
Probably not profitable enough to live off of.
This made me chuckle
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Define a shitload? Itās a start, how much do you need?
Probably not, who knows. Iām a long way from bring a businessman.
This.
If you want to make a living from music, be a DJ or a cover band, and do weddings. Simple.
I think people that enjoy making music, arenāt interested in making money. If they were, they would not have become interested in making music.
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As regards Solar Guitarsā¦ Well there is this. 
My guess is that Solar Guitars alone would be enough to put food on Ola Englundās table. But of course thatād probably be the case only as long as his Youtube channel continues to thrive. Which again is another piece of evidence of how you need to do absolutely everything to earn money on music. Probably doesnāt leave him with a lot of time to actually make music.
My dream of being a musician is definitely very different to how it looks like for Englund but playing covers on Youtube, owning a guitar company and having played 10 years in the same band as some of the At the Gates guysā¦ well, it could be a lot worse. Not to say that makes him an artiste extraordinaire in my books.
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The situation of even the greatest musicians (with a very few exceptions) was extremely difficult even long before capitalism. I recommend for example J.E. Gardinerās excellent Bach biography āMusic in the castle of heavenā (2013). Ironically the image of the artistic genius, free to create art for artās sake is itself largely a product of 19th century romanticism and not unrelated to the cultural ambitions of an increasingly affluent bourgeoisie produced by a flourishing capitalist system.
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Iād like to have seasons. Two careers, one artistic and one doing something everyday but not horrible, teacher or shipping clerk or whatever. Six months on, six months off. Problem is that most jobs wonāt let you disappear for half a year and then pick up where you left off.
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Thatās one ugly guitar, hah! I have no idea how much Solar Guitars sells units, but their artist roster looks pretty thin. Couple of really cool guitarists, like Nocturno and Kirk Windstein, and then a lot of nobodies who probably just bought a guitar and were added to the artists list, no endorsement. But I guess thatās how it works in the year 2022.