I'm pretty 'vanilla' when it comes to my listening habits. Most of the artists I listen to were famous enough already to show up on my radar, and then there are a number of artists I discovered through word of mouth or attending music festivals. Aside from a few people in my network who often provide me with new artists to follow, my approach seems pretty common in my network.
But since I started using Spotify, the range of artists that I come across, follow, or become a fan of, has increased. The total count of artists I listen to in a given week is much higher than it used to be, and I'm much more likely to attend a performance when they're in town.
Of course that doesn't mean artists get paid more, but as far as listening and attending performances, my impression is that it's much better now for 'unknowns' than it used to be.
(obviously this doesn't mean the chances of a random artist/band becoming successful have increased, it just indicates that the chances of this becoming so is less dependent on obvious gate-keepers. I'm sure those in the know can point out many obstacles to becoming successful that are not directly related to the quality of the music)
The very best thing you can do to support your favorite artists is to go to their concerts, and buy a t-shirt or some other merch while you're there. Nearly as supportive is buying downloads and merch through services like Bandcamp, where they majority of the money you pay goes directly to the artists.
Just in my little country of less than 6 million people, we have three big annual metal festivals, multi-day affairs with good coverage of both international and local bands. There has also been a marked increase in the number of smaller festivals that specialize in local niche bands with some international bookings, as well.
And that's just from the metal scene, my primary sphere of interest. We also have one of the largest and oldest general music festivals in Europe (Roskilde) and countless smaller fests. Accounting for all genres, not a week goes by without at least one festival being held somewhere, in a country where train travel from literally one end to the other takes just ~10 hours.
The festival scene has really exploded over the last 10-15 years.
The days of snorting cocaine in studios for months and making concept albums are over. Its back to traveling around and entertaining people. Worked for thousands of years.
While popular artists indeed can make a killing touring, it costs money for those playing smaller venues, or god forbid, playing as an opening act.
Labels have a tour marketing budget to cover the expense of building a following on the road.