I know that there's a kick to be got out of circumventing the draconian rules big music/film industry lobby into law, but what do the writers think about independents that they effectively take down in the same blow? This is a genuine question, not an attack. I've spent a lot of time studying/writing/playing music and through that have got to personally know many of the most talented and versatile musicians I've ever…
Not many musicians expect to make money from selling records. It used to be "do free shows to sell records". Now it's completely reversed to "do free records to sell shows".
Shows have always been the main income, the only people getting rich off records were record labels.
Although artists SHOULD be able to make money off record sales, there is no real reason to have a record label anymore now that your work is infinitely duplicatable and no one has to foot the bill for the print run you can just sell it yourself.