David Bowie called it in 2002.

Speaking to the New York Times in June 2002, David Bowie said: "Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So you'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left."

He said this in 2002. Spotify did not exist. The iPod was a year old. iTunes Music Store was still in development. Bowie was looking at the entire arc of distribution, drawing a line through where it had to end, and naming the only place where artists could expect to be paid in real money: the live, in-person experience that was structurally unrepeatable.

Twenty-four years later the prediction is consensus. Per-stream payouts to independent artists land in the thousandths of a cent. Tour revenue is the load-bearing pillar of most working musicians' income.

What Bowie was pointing at was not just the devaluation. It was the response. If the file is going to be free or close to it, the artist has to build value somewhere else. The live show is one place. The object is another. The direct relationship is a third. DeepTune is a bet on the second and third.