I'm not sure how it works for people in the Mariah Carey echelon, but small acts make most of their money from touring and merch sales. My understanding is that

I'm not sure how it works for people in the Mariah Carey echelon, but small acts make most of their money from touring and merch sales. My understanding is that CD sales don't really got back to the artist anyway, in an appreciable way, even before Spotify, so Spotify seems to be a continuation of that idea.