Some history, for those not in the know:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-a...

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml

http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2000/06/14/love/prin...

Spoiler: bands get about 20% of what the label gets. Your album can sell 1 million copies and your band might still owe the label $500,000. Labels take 10-20% off the top for breakage fees. Breakage. As in vinyl records that broke during shipping.