That's not what he said. The point is that even if all pro-musicians disappeared there would still be enough non-pro/semi-pro to create new music in their spare time.

After all, I doubt the first humans started playing music in order to pay the rent...

That isn't at all what he said. He said that if people stopped making music professionally, people would still make music. Professional, commercial music is a relatively recent phenomenon. Music wouldn't stop existing if it stopped being sold.

You completely miss the point: All professional musicians only account for a tiny fraction of actual music output. If they all disappeared it would not prevent art or music from evolving.

See my reply above. I doubt you, or anyone you know, voluntarily and primarily listens to amateur music.

Actually, I do primarily listen to people who have never made a living out of their compositions. Most of what I listen to is niche electronic music including 8-bit "chiptunes" and demo-scene music which does not exactly do well commercially. Some of them do make a little bit of money from music, but frankly most of these musicians can't even cover the cost of their equipment from their sales.

He's saying professional as in 'all i do is make music'. There are plenty of local bands where the band members have 2nd jobs.

yeah, and that's who you listen to all day? Really?

Sure, I knew people in college who were part of the local music scene and listened to it primarily.

I don't see why it is so surprising. People choose genres and primarily listen to it all the time. The kind of music popular to make in your locality, is definitely not the same genre that's played nationwide no matter how close the similarities may be.

Right, i did ignore the part about amateur musicians and their contributions to the lexicon. To all you who replied, i propose an experiment: go one month listening only to amateur music, or no music at all.

Amateur, non commercial, music must be music made by people who do not now, and have never, made their living as professional musicians.

For just one month.

Sometimes I think that musicians need music more than the rest of us.

And that's a good thing in my opinion.