Does the Music Industry Still Deserve the Artist?

It’s a simple question with a heavy edge:

Does the music industry still deserve the artist?

Not need. Not profit from. Not exploit.

Deserve.

Because in 2025, artists are carrying everything — the culture, the content, the emotion, the aesthetics — while getting squeezed by an industry built to monetize them, not protect them. And more of them are starting to ask: what exactly are we doing this for?

The Math Doesn’t Add Up Anymore

Let’s look at what artists are expected to do in the current system:

• Write, record, produce, and promote their own music

• Maintain multiple social platforms and post content daily

• Finance visuals, merch, and touring

• Understand their own branding, metrics, fanbase, and market position

• Stay constantly “on” — even when the music isn’t ready

And for all that?

• Streaming pays literal fractions

• Labels take the lion’s share of ownership and rights

• Touring is expensive and often unsustainable

• Short-form algorithms favor content creators over musicians

• And fans demand constant engagement — or move on

So again: what is the industry giving back?

A playlist placement? A one-album deal with terrible terms? Exposure that fades in a week?

Artists Built the System — But They’re Treated Like Employees

Let’s be clear: without the artist, there is no industry. There’s no product. No culture. No moment.

But major platforms, labels, and even fans have started treating artists like they owe the system — like they should be grateful for visibility, grateful for being streamed, grateful for “the opportunity.”

Meanwhile, it’s the artists doing all the labor:

• Making music that holds people through grief, rage, heartbreak, joy

• Creating the looks, trends, and language that the internet copies

• Soundtracking global platforms that profit off their work

And in return? They’re underpaid, undervalued, and often burned out.

The Industry Profits Off the Dream — But Doesn’t Protect the Reality

The machine still sells the idea of “making it.” Going viral. Getting signed. Going on tour. Living off your art.

But behind the scenes? That dream is broken:

• Artists are dropping out — not from failure, but exhaustion

• Independents are going silent because streaming can’t sustain them

• Even successful acts are calling it quits or speaking out — because the grind never ends, and the payoff isn’t enough

Meanwhile, execs and platforms rake in billions. Catalogs get sold for hundreds of millions. AI tools are being trained on artists’ voices — with or without consent.

The product is personal. But the system is predatory.

So What Would It Look Like If the Industry Did Deserve the Artist?

It would mean:

• Fair streaming payouts — not fractions of pennies

• Transparent contracts — no hidden traps or life-long recoupment clauses

• Mental health support — built into label and touring infrastructure

• Real investment in career development, not just data-driven bets

• Respect for boundaries — no expectation of nonstop engagement or commodified vulnerability

It would mean valuing the artist as a person, not a data point.

Artists Deserve Better. The Industry Doesn’t Deserve Them — Yet.

The music industry isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as it was designed to: extract as much value from the artist as possible while giving as little control or security in return.

But artists aren’t staying quiet about it anymore. They’re independent. They’re building their own lanes. They’re setting boundaries. And some are walking away.

So if the industry wants to survive? It has to change. Fast.

Because right now, it doesn’t deserve the people keeping it alive.