While I work, I listen to hour-long mixes of synthwave / retrowave / vaporwave music on YouTube. I've never heard of any of the artists, and other than the occasional "hey I recognize this melody from another mixtape" I've never heard of any of the songs... And I hope these guys are making a fortune in royalties for my plays.
They are in no way "fake artists" and I have no problem saying that I'd rather spend time listening to their work than albums that have won Grammys. Maybe some of these albums should win Grammys.
Well, I'm paying YouTube for a subscription for that, so probably out of there. People who aren't buying a subscription see ads, the advertisers pay to place those, so, out of there.
Edit: I don't think the economics of it are the issue. My thing is, if people are fine with more famous artists getting revenue from streaming, why should they have a problem with other artists doing so? I don't care that these random synthwave people are unknowns, I like their music so I listen to it. That's every bit as valid a reason for them to get paid as the other guys have.
if it's a 3P Youtube Creator (aka a random person who started a channel and is creating these mixes by pasting music together), these artists might not even be getting paid for their music
They are in no way "fake artists" and I have no problem saying that I'd rather spend time listening to their work than albums that have won Grammys. Maybe some of these albums should win Grammys.