What you're missing is that the label that gets hurt by piracy doesn't spend money to advertise the artist's tours...and if the label doesn't spend money on the tour, other advertisers are slow to jump on. In other words, its kind of like seeding the tip jar with a few dollars and change so that people think they should tip the pianist at the bar.
(The most visible example of this at a macro level is the way public art gets funded in the USA. Unless the NEA puts in, say $1000 to help fund the Harlem Boy's Choir, thus giving it the organization's "seal of approval," their private donations drop precipitously.)
Then there's all that other stuff the label does for the touring artist. They pay for the tour busses (many of which are custom jobs for particular bands), they pay for the artist's gear to get moved in the convoy of trucks from NYC to Boston to Philly and so forth all across the nation. Back in the 1980's, Ronnie James Dio's tour had more than $1M in travelling sound gear, lights, lasers, robots, and pyrotechnics. Very little of it was his- most was owned or rented by his label...as was the insurance that covered its theft, loss, or destruction. (Which actually mattered: I saw one of those shows, and one of the laser-equipped robots lit a speaker on fire...)
And none of that happens without record sales...not on a big national or international tour level.
Minor labels like Sub Pop could organize regional tours, or maybe swing getting an artist an opening slot on a major tour (unlikely, since the majors have their own bands to promote), but they simply don't have the cash to swing something like a multiple-city arena tour.
(The most visible example of this at a macro level is the way public art gets funded in the USA. Unless the NEA puts in, say $1000 to help fund the Harlem Boy's Choir, thus giving it the organization's "seal of approval," their private donations drop precipitously.)
Then there's all that other stuff the label does for the touring artist. They pay for the tour busses (many of which are custom jobs for particular bands), they pay for the artist's gear to get moved in the convoy of trucks from NYC to Boston to Philly and so forth all across the nation. Back in the 1980's, Ronnie James Dio's tour had more than $1M in travelling sound gear, lights, lasers, robots, and pyrotechnics. Very little of it was his- most was owned or rented by his label...as was the insurance that covered its theft, loss, or destruction. (Which actually mattered: I saw one of those shows, and one of the laser-equipped robots lit a speaker on fire...)
And none of that happens without record sales...not on a big national or international tour level.
Minor labels like Sub Pop could organize regional tours, or maybe swing getting an artist an opening slot on a major tour (unlikely, since the majors have their own bands to promote), but they simply don't have the cash to swing something like a multiple-city arena tour.
