They just played a smart card that the distributing companies can't.
After all, we all know this will result in all music becoming free someday, right? No, it just took the money out of the hands of distributers and put it somewhere else so they are whining. Prince already got his money out of the deal.
When Tiger Woods started playing professional golf and kicking the other players' butts breaking all of the records, they did not join together and say "How dare he play so well! He must be stopped! Throw him out because this is so wrong!". It forced them to work harder and change their tactics else they would always be at least one slot lower which means less money in their pockets. I think that is what has happened here. The distributors are now realizing that they can't just sit back and watch the money roll in the same way that they used to. They have to work harder for it, and they don't like that idea.
