as an artist you have to decide what's more important to you
what will you spend your money on and what won't you
even at the height of the industry MOST artists and musicians were not getting signed
and didn't have big industry budgets to make money
but please believe there are have been underground artists creating music without the help
of the industry for years as well.
again the musician/artist has to decide if they can afford to be an artist or not
it's really that simple