Topics
The mechanics behind the harm. Start here to understand how the deals and the math actually work, then follow the links to documented cases.
Concert ticketing: how fans and venues got squeezed
One company. Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, promotes the shows, controls much of the venue network, and sells most of the tickets. The U.S. government calls that an illegal monopoly that raises fees for fans and pressures venues.
2 linked cases →
Masters ownership: who really owns the music
Whoever owns the master recordings controls the licensing, the reissues, and the money, and for decades the standard deal handed that ownership to the label, not the artist who made the record.
3 linked cases →
Payola: paying to control what you hear, from radio to the algorithm
Payola is undisclosed pay-for-play, a label paying for airplay while passing it off as organic. It's illegal on US radio, it cost the majors millions in settlements, and critics argue it never died: it just moved into streaming.
2 linked cases →
Recoupment: why a hit record can still leave you broke
Labels recover the advance and most costs out of the artist's royalty share before paying a cent, and because that repayment comes from only the artist's slice, most major releases never recoup at all.
2 linked cases →
Streaming royalties: where the money actually goes
Spotify paid the music industry a record $10 billion for 2024, yet most artists earn fractions of a cent per stream, because the label, not the artist, sits between the platform and the payout.
3 linked cases →
What is a 360 deal? When the label takes a cut of everything
A 360 deal lets a label claim a percentage not just of recorded music but of touring, merch, endorsements, and publishing, revenue streams it often had no hand in building.
0 linked cases →