"Subjected to a Series of Small Humiliations"

"Though these critiques purport to take on the music industry as it is today, they are essentially evergreen. Arcade Fire's dystopian vision might as well have been soundtracked by Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall.' The most famous label-versus-artist sagas in history—Tom Petty, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, and so on—are, well, historical. Today's state of affairs, though, has modern peculiarities. The industry's profits have rebounded to a level that some doubted they would return to after the CD bubble burst in the early 2000s. Yet many artists feel more squeezed than ever, and the reasons for cynicism are more complicated than they were before. The villain is not only the exec asking for a signature on the dotted line."

Spencer Kornhaber at The Atlantic takes a look at current difficulties for musicians.