My grandfather had a single hit song over 50 years ago and he still lives comfortably off accumulated royalties and other proceeds in 2017. Those days are long gone. In this current system artists can still become millionaires via concert and show money. It's the writers and producers who are getting shafted since they depend mostly on royalities and points.

What I find intriguing are the genres where producers are arguably MORE important than the artist (think trap music). Some producers in that space are circumventing this problem by starting their own labels and signing artists under them. This is essentially what Mike Will Made It has done with Rae Sremmurd. As the music industry evolves, people participating in it have to continually think outside the box and innovate to maintain revenue streams.