*sigh* to be alive when the great composers wrote their works

I have just received a great gift :tickets to go and see Strauss and Mussorgsky:two of my most favorite composers (who just happened to have lived and write in the 1800's). The concert is Nov 24 at the Orpheum if anyone else is interested.
I sometimes reminisce about how wonderful it would be to live in the time of the "greats". This reminds me awfully of how my grandfather would go on about "the good ol' days".
Listening to the beautiful, sometimes awe inspiring, complicated music of old brings me to question the modern music industry.
This blog is not about bashing Britney Spears, or to bring up the Janet boob scandal but moreover to compare the music business of old to our modern "music" business.
Firstly--Artists being on drugs and being completely eccentric is not something that is new. Mozart was a party animal and Beethoven was socially stunted. So when I hear about the lifestyles of the rich and overly fabulous it appears to me as "business as usual".
Secondly--People in Victorian England and previous times did not walk around and sit in bars listening to a full orchestra. Those seats were reserved for the wealthy and overly fabulous. There was folk and drinking songs and only some (the good ones) are still sung today. The garbage songs were left behind. My point with this being: "Gimme More" isn't going to outlast movie scores (which I believe are our modern day "Classical Genius"). Movies like "Gladiator" or "Lord of The Rings" or even "Star Wars" show the complexity that Mussorgsky exhibits in his work.
Thirdly--We live in a Capitalist society: all is driven by the almighty dollar. The Classics were either sanctioned by the Church, or for the wealthy nobility. The only thing that has changed presently is that in North America we lack the Noble Class. The same principle applies though. What music gets distributed is what the people want to hear. If no one listened to a radio station they would go out of business (unless it was the CBC) and same with music television and Record companies.
It is comparable to the situation that faces Geoffrey Tempest in the Marie Corelli's "Sorrows of Satan". On page 37 it discusses Tempest's book. He wrote the book "with the intention of elevating and purifying the thoughts of [his] readers..." Lucio Rimanez brings Tempest back into reality by stating:
I assure you it won't, it doesn't fit the age...it must simply be indecent. As indecent as you can make it...Put in as much as you can about sexual matters and the bearing of children...There's not a critic living who won't applaud you...there are no noble forms of life left on this planet,--it is all low and commercial... (pages 37-38).
I don't see the music quality or message being an obvious form of degeneracy for these reasons. Art is in the eye of the beholder. Britney Spears is very talented at being in the public spotlight, and I am sure she has made some sacrifices to be there. Me, I am happy to be getting to sit in 14 dollar seat and experiencing the 1800's best. Perhaps I am blessed to live now--I probably could not afford the tickets if I were in the 1800's.