There was time before streaming that artists absolutely needed record labels and that was the set of circumstances under which they signed deals with record lab

There was time before streaming that artists absolutely needed record labels and that was the set of circumstances under which they signed deals with record labels. Before Youtube and streaming services record labels provided distribution of your product to local markets as well as promotion of that product in local markets both in stores and on radio. The overwhelming majority of the big 3 records label's catalogs are from that era. How exactly does that constitute "dumb decisions musicians make?" Your logic is absurd and seems to predicated on somehow being able to predict the future.