“Unfortunately, brilliant music doesn’t sell.”
If someone wasn’t buying it, it wouldn’t be produced at all. There would be no classical radio stations, no live performances, etc.
Zappa said that it was the old men with the cigars that were primarily responsible for signing on the more unconventional artists, and were more willing to take risks, than the supposedly “hip” young record execs.
There’s selling and there’s SELLING. Except for a brief window in the late 60s and early 70s when prog rock was massive (ELP basically invented the summer stadium tour of America) complex music doesn’t SELL. It’ll sell fine if it finds its audience and keep the musicians from having to find other jobs. But they ain’t going multi-platinum. They ain’t even going gold.