I wasn't going to reply to this since it is your opinion, which is just as valid as any other, but will offer mine for arguments sake.
1: Record Companies are among the worst shyster scum on the planet. They will take any opportunity or anything that wasn't clearly spelled out in a 20 year old contract and use it to f**k the artist. PERIOD
It is lawyers that do that. I doubt that the lawyers of the artists expect any different. If GnR were really so far over the barrel, there would be no discussions. The album would be out when the label pleases and screw the band. That clearly isn't the case.
The bands has lawyers, the label has lawyers. Between the two sets, they normally make the the contracts "reasonably" agreeable to both sides. Otherwise there would simply be no signed contract.
2: Record Companies HAVE NOT gotten with the times and never will. They've had almost 10 years to get their mp3 s**t together since the free music Napster days, and yet, they still haven't cataloged the 80's music or Indy Label music into individual mp3's for sale. And the reason they're avoiding doing this is because they want to shove Britney and American Idol winners down your throat, regardless of the fact that most people like older or underground music.
Or perhaps because more recent releases are bigger sellers? What is going to sell more on MP3? An average release from 20 years ago, or an average current release now? I would say that the new release is going to sell more (simply because it hasn't been out there for decades in different formats). Given that, which one are the labels more likely to concentrate on?
Ever wonder what Jack Radio is? That's the music everyone downloaded in 2000 on Napster, and the record companies refused to catalog into individual mp3's for sale. Once everyone started turning their f**king radios off in the early 2000's, they said, "Oh shit. We better start playign stuff on the radio that we KNOW people like, otherwise the FM radio will be in the trash can." So they gave us Jack Radio.
Never heard of it to be honest, so can't really comment..
Also, wrt those older and lesser known artists, if their songs could be purchased as individual mp3's, the major record labels wouldn't make as much money off the mp3 sales because most of those artists were on indy labels, and the major labels only had or will have a "Distribution Contract" with the Indy label. So the record companies, being the shyster scum that they are, can't even STAND the idea of not making 80% of the money from an mp3. It's not in their Fat Mafia F**k level of comprehension. Because that's all they are... Fat Mafia F**ks.
So the labels are turning away "free" money because the % is not 80%? I doubt it. Do you really think that even if the profit was only 10%, the labels would throw away the chance to earn the money? If they did that, the shareholders might have something to say. The company has a legal obligation to the shareholders and I can't seem them ignoring that.
Even alot of Book Publishers are nothing but Fat Mafia F**ks. As a result, sometimes a good book goes out of circulation because the author refuses to give in to the company's Fat Mafia F**k tactics, and then he has to wait almost 20 years until his contract expires.
Well, why did the author sign the contract them? Why does he not like the contract now? Sounds like money in the example above. In which case, the label as just as much right to maximise profits as the artists do. Obviously I would like to see the artists get the lions share, but lets not make the labels out to be the root of all evil.