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Kane, I don't disagree with you, but you are missing the important points:
Radiohead has effectively ZERO media at this point. The album is out there, there is no push to get it on radio, there is no media interest, there is no reviewer copies, there are no press tours, no junkets, no internation record listening parties, no hype. For a band like Radiohead with an established fanbase this, might be an okay situation, but they are trading entirely on what was created by the record companies and their artist management and promotion department over the last 15 years.
If Thom Yorke was a box filler at a local factor with a record, he would make exactly NOTHING. The album isn't that good. Radiohead without the labels behind them over the years would be nothing, just a bunch of pre-emo bitches with bad blue collar jobs.
The other part is that in the end, the artists have the big end of the stick long term. The Beatles, the Stones, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Scorpions, Styx (nice round and random list) are all artists that don't have to really put out new music to make a ton of cash. Styx play something like 200+ dates a year, making pretty darn good money. Even without a single additional album sale, these artists can go on and on making money without paying the record companies a cent. They own themselves and they make the cash. Record companies make the money up front, sucessful artists make their money long term.
Do you think the record companies make any money off of Mark Wahlberg acting? Do you think that the record companies are making money off Will Smith? Nope. The artists go on with long term value created in a greater or lesser part by the record companies and management that discovered them, nurtured them, and paid for them to learn and make mistakes.
Take that out of the equation, and everything changes.
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