Most musicians live off the money they make touring and performing. It's rare that a musician makes enough money off of record sales alone.

if the artists can't live making their music, the label can't publish them

BTW in this specific case the bands get the full cachet for the live gigs and the merch they sell at the venues, the label pays for the pressing and gets its own share from selling the records and from the merch sold on the label's website

It's a small business, not a shady multi billion company

it's made out of passion, not for greed