"if the artist sells to me at £12 i've always assumed that they would be getting more than if i bought it from a retail outlet for £13-50p"

Yes, but think of the numbers sold. In the folk world, nearly all the sales are at live gigs and the numbers sold though retail outlets are insignificant. The retail outlets are the places where the attitude "I don't care about the money, I just want my music to be heard" really applies. Through Wild Goose we get (eventually...) about 50p for anything sold by other retailers. The direct sales are the main channel, and the one we have to rely on to cover costs, let alone make any profit.

Anahata