RIAA Accounting: Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money From Album Sales

"We recently had a fun post about Hollywood accounting, about how the movie industry makes sure even big hit movies 'lose money on paper. So how about the recording industry? Well, they're pretty famous for doing something quite similar. Reader Jay pointed out in the comments an article from The Root that goes through who gets paid what for music sales, and the basic answer is not the musician."