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I think it's a bit unfair to pick a band that was created in that golden age of music where the record companies didn't suck up all the money.

How about comparing a non-multimillionaire artist instead?

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Just to nit-pick: record companies have always "[sucked] up all the money". I don't believe there ever was a golden age where record companies were Nice Guys and everyone was happy.

"..people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn’t make any money out of records because record companies wouldn’t pay you! They didn’t pay anyone! Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone. So if you look at the history of recorded music from 1900 to now, there was a 25 year period where artists did very well, but the rest of the time they didn’t."

-- Mick Jagger (ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8681410.stm)

One of my favourite quotes. History is so easily ignored or forgotten.

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