Record labels extract rent without promoting or developing musicians.

Evidence

In a candid conversation I had with a venture capitalist at one of the Big 3 record labels (under condition of anonymity), he gave a deceptively direct and distilled description of how the contemporary music industry works: “A music company doesn’t need to go out and make money. People make music; they aren’t going to stop making music. People listen to music; they aren’t going to stop listening to music. All a rights holder like Sony, Warner, or Universal has to do is say, ‘Fuck you, pay me.’” — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 230

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘Fuck you, pay me’ summary of the music industry is a compact, quotable line.