IMO, nobody has figured anything out yet. All majors are taking their last big gasps of air before they take on more water. Artists are getting screwed via streaming services because of the massive debt that Spotify has taken on.. to which the majors are making worse by licensing costs they charge Spotify (but they've cleverly invested in it to hedge their bets). True indie labels can be successful in their own niche, but the increase of quantity of music available (streaming services / bandcamp / social sites / etc) is outnumbering the ability of labels to control marketing channels, which was the only way to educate people about music at one point in time. That's why millions of albums sold.. people enjoy being told what to listen to, and that's no different now with Top 40 terrestrial radio. But there are so many more options out there, and methods to obtain it, that the industry can't keep up.
I'm leaving the industry in a few months to pursue my own passions, because my passion for working with music has turned into practically nothing. I see the morons captaining the ship, and every day I know why the music industry is suffering. All you have to do is talk to somebody who has "experience" in the music biz for 5 minutes to understand they have no actual idea to what they're talking about, at all.
Retail space is shrinking in major retail chains.. streaming hasn't figured out a way to profit.... major and indie record labels are clinging on to 360 deals (taking percentages of profits from merch, live shows, sync payments, etc..) to squeeze as much revenue out of the artists as possible. The only way artists can make a decent living these days (unless you're one of the lucky legendary bands that haven't had members die lately, or one of the industry's "pre-chosen" manufactured super stars [even that's not very lucrative these days]) is to direct sell to their fans. We're going through the biggest paradigm shift in history with the internet still in its infancy, and nobody wants to admit that business is no longer business as usual, especially in such a dynamic field, where anyone can record anything and put it out on their own these days. Truly savvy business people will be in charge of their own band/brand and cut out the middleman. That's what's happening more and more, hence the Decline of Western Civilization Part 3 (super nerdy music doc reference), aka the decline of the music industry as we know it. It may still exist one day, but on a super small indie label scale, with the majors only duty to fund marketing dollars to tomorrow's pop superstars.
I'm leaving on my own terms. I'm tired of working 7 days a week for dummies. Just my two cents on how things are going.