The book &quot;How Music Got Free&quot; explores that dynamics. Steve Jobs had an idea for Apple Music to launch as a label, doing direct 50&#x2F;50 split with an artist instead of opaque label contracts.<p>He&#x27;d call Doug Morris (ex-Universal, ex-Warner, ex-Sony) to get him to come onboard as a CEO of that label, but in Morris&#x27; view a label that could not cut upfront checks to young artists would not stay in business for long.<p>Any promising artists would then be schmoozed and seduced by the labels who can cut advance checks and offer real money in the pocket today instead of abstract fairer revenue split down the road. Any existing top artists already have some label relationship that is hard to get out of. What you&#x27;re left with is a bunch of nobodies, kinda like the MP3.com back in the days.