For nearly 70 years the music business and the record business were one and the same. If an act wanted to be successful, they’d need to sign with a major label at some point. That meant a record contract.
Never mind that the contract meant signing away massive amounts of control (and potential revenue) to a corporation driven by fickle trends in exchange for promotion: that was the only way to go. The labels knew it. Everyone knew it. It was accepted wisdom.
Artists lived under a modern-day feudal relationship with the labels. If one was commercially viable and could turn out a few decent songs, they had a chance at making it. Of course, it was the record company who ultimately profited the most. Artists could expect to get a decent percentage of the revenue from live performances (as long as the label promoted them well enough to fill seats), but the label received most of the profits from the actual records sold. Continued...