The issue of how much musicians theoretically earn from their work has moved out of the trade press and into social media's trending topics recently... In the background of these debates is the question of whether songwriters and performers are actually getting all the money they're owed.

Source: Is Transparency The Music Industry's Next Battle? : The Record : NPR

How many of you folks use Spotify on the regular? Do you buy music anywhere, in any form? I'm not trying to preach - as a musician I'm obviously pro-music - but I'm also hugely pro-credit. It's a tough argument - most artists need to treat their craft as a full-time job in order to progress and develop as an artist, and in that sense you can't work for free. However, it did occur to me that most people aren't actually aware how the streaming system actually works, so I thought I'd help break it down:

Here's a link from Spotify's website, detailing their payment model. Looks nice, but it's actually more like this, along with al the other online distributors.

How do you feel about it?

We're out of the age of the multi-million dollar Music Industry signing 10 acts on the chance they'll make it all back on one. But it seems now we've gone in the other direction, and the only people still coming out on top are the guys with all the cash.