Record labels are to musicians just as land owners in the early 20th century were to sharecroppers.
Once you get signed, if you produce a record under a label, that label will own that record, the rights to that record, and everything you did on that record, in perpetuity. Forever. All thanks to record label lobbyists and our sleazy government copyright laws.
Stealing our copyright reversions in the dead of night while no one was looking, and with no hearings held, is piracy.
The 273,000 working musicians in the US make $30,000 on average. The music industry makes $40 billion a year.
+10 to Courtney Love, not only is she right on, but she closed on a quote from Snow Crash.