Unless an artist is a serious growth hacker, chances of making it big in the recording industry are next to none.
I mean look at all A-list singers, rappers, songwriters, and music producers they are one way or the other affiliated with either indie/major labels and music publishers.
Why? Well, because the recording industry just like any other industry with potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue will always have multi-national corporations coming in to grab it by the balls -- and that's eggzactly what happened to it, now here we are!