Labels recoup 100% of production costs
from every artist. While the act is paying back hundreds of thousands of dollars at their royalty rate ($1 to $1.50 per disc), the label, distributors and retailers are making lots of money on the release. Should these acts fail to make a profit, either though lack of public interest or PLAN by the label, the costs of that development is written off by the label/parent company as R&D. They NEVER lose.