In many cases, the majors now take huge income guarantees, or even equity, from the streaming services—money that covers their artist-royalty obligations and then some, leaving them with massive profits they’re under no obligation to share with their musicians, and often don’t. Merlin, a nonprofit rights agency that arranges deals with streaming services for many independent labels, found that the income guarantee offered to them by one streaming service amounted to six times what they would ultimately have earned through royalties alone.
