That's one of the reasons you need a conductor. Orchestra players learn pretty early that if you listen for your cue you'll come in late.

What a wonderful comparison. And it gives hope to the fact that software at either end could play the role of this conductor — it can negotiate a "true" sync time and pre-empt the delay, just like a conductor.

Indeed. Still, it might be enabling to someone who's already used to the delay, but in a 4-10 person band, there isn't such an issue.

I have to check something, though - how do things change if all musicians tracks go through a mixer and everyone listens to his own mix in headphones. On stage, the delay from the main speakers is huge for the perfomers. That's why they have either in-ear headphone or speaker monitor. Can't this work for symphonic orchestras? And does it solve their latency problem?

Symphonies are pretty traditional in their methods, and the conductor is already an adequate solution to the problem (and has many other roles).

I never really thought of it this way. Thanks for the great examples, guys!