Can you, or someone, share a source for the first paragraph? It completely changes my perception of music royalties and I'd like to be sure before I repeat it :)
You want to read up on music publishing as well as royalties[1][2]. It's important to understand both and it's hard to discuss one without the other. But basically if you understand the these two subject you will understand to a very large degree how the music business works. In the record label model of the music business a label advances you money to pay for your recording and advances you money to pay for your music's promotion(videos, tour support etc.) Before an artists sees a single cent of money from album sales they need to pay the label back all of the money the label advanced them. These advances are paid back via mechanical royalties. It is not until a label recoups every cent from the artist that the artist begins collecting royalties. This is how a lot of artists can sell a bunch of records and yet end up in debt to the record label. S
[1] https://soundcharts.com/blog/how-the-music-publishing-works
[2] https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-royalties