Exactly. the manufactured star system still works but that industry has grown smart enough to not rely on the sales of the albums for revenue. They found a hundred other ways to make money and all that is only possible if you have a manufactured star.

So the big players still earn big bucks, but the amateurs earn pretty much nothing from their time and talent.

PS: I think piracy kinda supports the star economy as a wider circulation of the music results in higher appeal of the star. If the records by big stars couldn't be pirated, people would mostly stop listening to them, and THEN the star industry would collapse