For me an alternative to live performances came not with the Internet, but with (a) HD live broadcasts from the Met at selected movie theaters (following which I have a hard time going to the real world opera, so perfect is the HD thing), and (b) the TV channel  Mezzo which I get via satellite.

Yet I do see a difference between consuming and experiencing music. I tend to use the former verb when music merely serves as background to other activities. When we "listen" to music in a shopping mall, restaurant, while translating/writing/reading/studying, we primarily do that: shop, eat, translate/write/read/study with music just serving as background noise. In my parlance, we don't really experience music at that time. To experience music rather than to consume it like people consume ads or news we need to focus on it.