As a dude whos always had his music free in one format or another, I've only recently starting selling my music places in order to cram my shit into as many places as possible.
All my stuff is still free on bandcamp, but in order for my label to get my stuff other places it had to be for a cost. Even then thankfully you can get both my albums for 4.99 each which is great. And I guess if you stream then you dont really notice that your technically paying for the music. I do feel like paying for downloads at least in the pay what you want format is great for essentially "tipping" the artist if you want.
But the way I've always approached things is I want my music to be accessible by everyone. I don't really care about pay and never really will. Only recently have I started to see small amounts of cash come from shows and streams, and its definitely nice but its not the main goal really.
I feel like if your paying for something it should come with something tangible that you can hold physically, put on your shelf, whatever. Be it stickers, cassettes, t shirts. Like this album cycle im on for instance, there will be CDs available and im working on Cassettes and t shirts as well cause I like the art for once. lol
And that will be a way for my fans to pay me but get something out of it as well.
So TL;DR: pay for download=essentially tipping the artist, but merch is better. Wearable stuff especially.
On the flipside, as a fan of music I have this process when I find a band I like (lets use lightning bolt as an example)
1. like a song, stream the album. (Used to pirate but lol SpOtIfY!)
2. Like the album, listen to everything. (Often will get my favorite on vinyl/CD)
3. Listen to everything, see a show (This is the final step. Ill buy merch, enjoy myself and meet the band if I can.)
I feel like that cycle really helps me as a listener not only get the full experience but allows for me to support the band as much as I can.
But yea, sorry for rambling.