"SaaS just more popular/lucrative/financially gamable"
Piracy definitely killed the ownership model. After Napster and prolific piracy of music for 10+ years, the value of music plummeted to almost nothing.
Piracy is closer to counterfeiting than stealing, because the actual value of the pirated good approaches $0 as more and more people have the idea that they can get it for free.
This won't happen to any automotive company if you steal a car. This is why I always thought those ads about piracy/stealing were silly.
SaaS for the music industry might have happened without piracy, but piracy was definitely the catalyst for the services we see today.
My take is that SaaS is just a more predictable business model with fewer operating complexities and easier sales funnels.