Why classic prog faded?

What had been written in music and derived from various centuries was repeated in Prog rock. It was added into rock music and it was a teaching because after Keith Emerson formed the Nice ...many bands followed in his footsteps. Bands like Beggar's Opera, Rare Bird, Trace and many others adapted not only his concept , but spent too much time on emulating every detail about it. I would listen to Curved Air and hear the style of Robert Fripp's writing. I suppose this can't be helped. It's like listening to Vivaldi and feeling cheated by the sections which are reminiscent of J.S. Bach. Bands like Ange and Pulsar being influenced by Genesis and Pink Floyd was not by any means to take away from their originality, but to simply place reflections of those bands before them in a subtle way. It's sad that in the entertainment industry a prog musician/icon had to dress like he was performing in the circus. That's what killed prog because the American audience expected more of a show. More musicians wearing capes and sticking knifes in their organs. You would see pure rockers in the audience at the "Thick as a Brick" concert trying to groove along with the strangest time signatures, the concert being sold out, kids in high school listening to Jethro Tull everyday and the industry pulls the rug from underneath it all. By the time I hit the theatre circuit during the late 70's...those theatres were packed to the max. There was no problem with society liking prog! It was the industry making a dreadful move to dismiss prog. People wanted it! In the early 80's kids would be watching a hard rock/metal type cover band for about an hour and leave to see a prog cover band up the street who would play Jethro Tull, Genesis, or Yes. The interest was still evident to all. It was very sad watching classic prog fade that way. When you stood in front of a packed house and played "Watcher of the Skies", getting a standing O IN 1979, It clearly states that it was the industry that wanted nothing to do with it. That is so depressing when you measure up the demand people had for prog and then the industry made it more difficult for the average individual to listen to it. Most people depended on the radio and that is why they bought Trumvirat albums or Trick of the Tail by Genesis. How sad to think that the industry would completely turn their backs on it when I was making thousands of dollars playing it. That's very unjust and quite ignorant.