On a regular basis, we get articles on HN on how Spotify et al. should pay artists more.

Put me right if I'm wrong... but it's been my understanding that similarly to album sales, streaming doesn't contribute much to artists' earnings -- because the labels take most of that money.

Prior to streaming, majority of their income would come from gigs, merch (though often not because, again, labels) and marketing deals.

I'm more inclined to buy this when it comes to small artists -- they can't sell wildly popular merch, be a face of a brand, and gigs at a local bar don't pay well if at all. But then again, it's symmetric to their situation prior to streaming, and I don't see how streaming made it worse in any way. On the contrary, I did discover plenty niche artists thanks to streaming.

What am I missing?