No, you're not paying for the content itself, you're paying for the band's time, and the limited amount of space in the venue - like you said, the performance; but not the content. Those are both scarce resources, whereas the actual bits are not: you could stream that out on the internet to a virtually infinite number of people.
Actually, you are paying for the content too. The content is the driver for the scarce space in a venue. Ever been to a concert bar on nights without a show? They are dead, there is no reason to be there without the music. Similarly, most people don't say "will there be a band there tonight?", they say "which band will be there tonight?", implying the music is at least as important as the fact there is a band and a bar. Putting it on the internet doesn't actually matter, many venues do that, and are sold out anyway. Being on the scene is actually important to a lot of people.
As for authors, I wasn't talking about them, and I'm not going to play strawman games with you.
> As for authors, I wasn't talking about them, and I'm not going to play strawman games with you.
Authors are producers of 'information goods' too, and I hardly think such a large category of people constitutes a 'strawman'. It's an issue that to them is very real - musicians can sort of fall back on performances, but authors can't.
Now, how about authors?