In Canada the industry has come to rely on this revenue stream. By their own figures from the CPCC, it generated about $160 million over ten years, distributed to 97,000 copyright owners, many of them large publishers.
What that means is that the average musician who received a cheque—and that leaves out most of the emerging artists—got something considerably less than $160 per year, which isn't very much money. I used to be a musician too. We both know that musicians like to drink beer, and $160 doesn't go very far these days.