alt Hacker NewsCorrection: to record labels.
When you read artists' blog posts you can see they get peanuts. Not due to Spotify - due to the recording deals.
If you want an exhaustive but eye-opening account of all of the details, I recommend "All you need to know about the music business" by Don Passman.
This is the artists fault for signing with the labels. The labels own their music, of course they get the payment.