[mbreese]

You seem to be under the impression that being an entertainer is easy, or that they shouldn't make a living wage, or be able to profit from their work...

Everyone's gotta eat. What we're seeing now is the natural give and take within the industry adapting to new norms and business plans. From a higher level view, it's fascinating.

[gems]

"You seem to be under the impression that being an entertainer is easy"

No I'm not. If something is not profitable, then do something else that is. Don't complain that you're not being paid enough.

[johnward]

You are projecting feelings that the op didn't mention.

No one is entitled to a meal in a capitalistic society. You have to "earn your keep" so to speak. Everyone does have to eat, but that doesn't mean you're entitled to eat off of your music. If music isn't working out maybe these artist should get a "real job".

Most of these artist are still following a a business model that is broken. I'm not sure why they feel they are so entitle to high income. Maybe it has something to do with that carrot that the record industry dangles out there. Every feels like they should be making Beyonce money or something. Why is it that radio royalties and album sales seem to be all they focus on when they get such a little cut anyway. It seems like building a following and then getting that following to pay to go to your concert and buy your merchandise directly is much more profitable.

There are some musicians that recognized they would never make as much as they would like in that business. Look at someone like 50 cent. He realized that royalty payments wouldn't be enough. From the start he created a brand around his name and his crew G-unit. From that they were able to sell clothing, get exclusive sneaker deals, negotiate for their own label, etc. With that money he invested in outside deals like Vitamin water which made him much more money than his music did when it was sold to Coca-Cola. This is someone that understands the business and how to leverage it to benefit you more than it benefits the industry.

It's been shown time and time again that artist do tend to get fucked, but it's not just internet radio providers doing said fucking. How much of the royalties get paid out to labels, managers, and anyone else that has their hands in the artist pocket. Maybe if they could negotiate better terms they would get a bigger piece of the royalty pie.

Look, I get paid what I think is a decent amount at my job. My employer has no obligation to pay me that much. They do it because I have valuable skills in a competitive market that they are willing to pay for. I also provide much more value than the salary that I earn. If for some reason those skills weren't desired or I wasn't able to make a living from them I would attempt to move on to something new.

I really don't know why I'm rambling so much. I do wish artist could make a living, but I don't think they are entitle do earn a living wage making music. Watching this industry try to keep their failing business models alive is pretty interesting though.