> Why would anyone need a music label when they can release everything on Youtube or Tiktok by themselves?

And how would they differentiate themselves from the fifty million other people who are doing the same thing on YouTube?

Labels have historically provided assistance with recording and marketing, in exchange for the lion's share of the bounty. Recording may have gotten easier, but the gap between the skills of a musician, and a marketer is still here.

I'm not saying the economics of the past were great, but the economics of the present aren't, either.