Labels today do things like get their artists added to popular playlists and run major media campaigns. But the latter is definitely reserved for top tier artis

Labels today do things like get their artists added to popular playlists and run major media campaigns. But the latter is definitely reserved for top tier artists. Ultimately it's a tough industry. The fact of the matter is technology has made it vastly easier for more people to become musicians and distribute their music. The result is way more competition, which has turned music into a commodity. More competition = lower prices, that's just how it works, unfortunately. Some artists succeed at making a living, but most don't. But the fact of the matter is that this is how it's always been. There wasn't a golden era of the past where millions of musicians were making a comfortable living. Even when artists got paid more-per-sale (because consumers were willing to pay more for physical copies of media), there were far fewer people able to become artists in the first place.