[Gigachad]

There is nothing that stops artists selling music directly and getting close to 100% profit. You don't need blockchains or "web3". The thing is that labels and spotify actually provide a valuable service that artists mostly choose to use.

People constantly devalue the real work that these "middlemen" are doing, pretending that the artist is doing it all. The label provides marketing, mixing, advice, etc which all boost the final profits of the music. Spotify provides technology, marketing, consumers, billing, distribution, etc which all boost the reach of the music.

But there is nothing stopping you from making music with no label, and putting it on bandcamp to sell directly.