Techdirt posts about the accounting done in the music industry. The article comes to a not-so-surprising conclusion and explains in detail:

Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money From Album Sales

Shortly summarised, the artist already gets a small slice of the pie to begin with, but thanks to all sorts of contract obligations, the artist is left with very little because advances and loans need to be paid back to the record company. If that doesn’t make you follow Thom Yorke’s advice, I don’t know what will. Do it yourself or sign with a small label you know you can trust. And read the fine print.