Back in the deep, dark days of the internet, when Napster was new, I believe this was one of the arguments that Def Leppard used against file-sharing.
Namely, that record companies are like VC funds, and the massive cash they make from Def Leppard (or Lady Gaga or whoever) pays for the 1000's of other acts that they fund and then fail.
But with self-publishing mechanisms we no longer need the record labels to risk all that money to produce bands that will likely fail. Now people can just put stuff on youtube, most will fail, but some like Justin Bieber, and Skrillex will get noticed.
Namely, that record companies are like VC funds, and the massive cash they make from Def Leppard (or Lady Gaga or whoever) pays for the 1000's of other acts that they fund and then fail.