This is an excellent interview. Start around 7:04 to learn about this subject
It’s not even just rock (specifically, guitar centric music) or music. I’d say even art on a whole. The way people consume and pay (or neither of these two propositions) for cultural goods and services has changed through the internet; especially for music. Not only because people don’t buy as many records nor consume art the way they used to, but also because it brought a whole new level of “competition” (if I dare say so) where people who used not to have a voice can now participate in the discussion. It allowed for more indie artists to exist. Crowdfunding, which is a form of patronage is a rather recent thing where one or several can directly fund the artists they enjoy, even on a subscription basis.
The challenge is now to compete for a living against and with more and more people as well as trying to recognize how people nowadays are willing to spend their money to support artists. Nonetheless, I can see where Gene Simmons comes from on this matter.