Actually I'll do a bit better than that. Some people might say the music business is run by a bunch of well mannered thugs in suits. Right now we have the ludicrous situation where Taylor Swift is being banned from singing her own songs, Sandi Thom was pushed out of the business by the playlist of a certain broadcasting company and numerous artists have retired hurt. Just listen to the late Kirsty McColl's song on the subject.
We have had a few nasty bits of work on the Folk Scene as well, take a look at some previous threads on here. If you are a successful singer in any medium my opinion is you need to remain as independent as you can.
I'll give you an example a certain singer recorded a contemporary song with the writers permission. The writers recording and publishing company demanded he pay royalties. The singer said 'Not even a problem! I'll post the cheque directly to the writer then shall I?' The voice on the phone said he would be very displeased if that happened, and might take further action, for the money was his company's cash, and did not belong to the writer. The singer backed down and said OK, because he was fairly young and inexperienced, The singer later met the writer who said he had received no money at all.
At the same time the singer was turned over by his previous record label. Those who ran said label it is alleged did very nicely.
Oh happy memories- Dingle we have a luverly time the day we went to the cleaners!