This is ridiculous. They are largely responsible for the cookie cutter facelessness that characterizes so much music that is heard these days. If one band is successful, sign 150 more that sound just like them, tart up their image, and promote the hell out of them to make a quick dollar. I know this is an entirely different rant, but I feel it is relevant to my argument since the RIAA talks so much about protecting artists. Honestly, this is about protecting income.
Artists make almost nothing off what they create as it is.
They do not even own what they create. The record company does. Their contracts are written with ridiculously low royalty rates, and the money they get when signed to a label is a loan, not free money. Whatever the record company does not make off of the artist will have to be paid back in full. It is stupid.