Think Piece: The Royalty Siphon Runs Both Ways - July 26

Email us hereThe music industry in mid-2026 is undergoing a structural bifurcation: capital is consolidating at unprecedented scale — billions flowing into catalog acquisition, major distribution mergers, and AI generation tools — while the economic ground underneath working artists continues to erode. The through-line across all six essays is a fight over who captures value from music, and the answer in almost every arena is: not the artist who made it. AI attribution remains unsolved, mechanical royalties bleed toward the majors by default, streaming platforms siphon royalties toward ghost artists and house-brand filler, and the superstar model that once justified the whole system is structurally dead. The counter-argument is also present: independent artists who understand the new terrain — who own their fan relationships, register their works, and treat listeners as people rather than stream counts — have access to tools and economics that never existed before.