That is not Spotify's fault. It is a deal made by artists that splits revenue between them and producer, record label etc.
70% of Spotify's revenue is to be split that way compared to ~40% of revenue of CD sales.
70% of Spotify's revenue is to be split that way compared to ~40% of revenue of CD sales.
You're also comparing apples to oranges on revenue. 40% of the revenue of a $10-$18 CD sale is a lot different than 70% of a $10/mo subscription being split out over however many artists someone might listen to on spotify.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/arts/music/streaming-musi...
Lots of artists talk about how they simply can't make a living off streaming royalties - artists that were able to do in the era of album sales. Obviously any sort of comfortable living requires merch sales and touring.
I agree that Spotify's revenue split is not perfect (it is in fact worse than what you described), but it is still much more fair than record sales. I consider having tape/CD record sold in physical shops (i.e. not during concerts) would be a success on its own in the 90s.
Now every artist can publish their work on Spotify and start to earn money, possibly getting noticed through it. It is much feasible to not be a part of record label now.
You've hit the nail on the head there. The same record companies that got up to very dodgy copy protection schemes [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...