The concept of breakage arises from traditional media, where record labels covered the costs of manufacturing, distributing and marketing music, and also carried charges associated with the return of unsold and damaged items. Those costs were removed before calculating musicians' share of income.

Since there are no such costs associated with streaming, it's possible for labels to use the breakage concept to secure a clear stream of profit without having to share any with artists. The amount of breakage can be extended when labels argue that having their music available via a streaming service increases the value of that service - and once again, none of that income has to be handed on to musicians.

Sixx says: "A record label signs an artist to sell music at different destinations. They license music to streaming companies, and when they do, they get around 70% of the money. On downloads, just like on CDs, they pay a royalty to the artist. But on streaming they don't - they use a legal loophole called 'breakage.'