I reckon an audit is in order...... I'd like to to know what the original copyrighted material is actually worth.
Can we break it down to an hourly rate??
Is a musicians time worth more than anyone elses time??
How many hours does a solo artist/songwriter creating a single?
Multiply it $40 per hour and then pay them. Then they get a little bit of extra royalty $ every month if their song is good and has legs. If they want to make more money, either write another good song or go on tour and work hard for their money like the rest of us.
Problem solved. Let the distro guys and the lawyers worry about all the other shit.
Am I being too simplistic?? This model seems to work for every other industry (where I.P isn't involved)
And don't get me wrong, I love music, I write music, I play music, I know the joy and value of a great song but this value doesn't have to be financial does it?? It's funny that the uploaders are the thieves AND the altruistic ones,
and the musicians are actually being railroaded into altruism by the pirates.

Anyway, artists are supposed to suffer lots, it's part of being an artist. It gives them passion and inspriration. There are not many all time songs out there that were written by a rich artist......