It actually does take away from the artist, as well as the producers, engineers and the recording companies. I just had a class on that. A percentage from each legal mp3 download goes to each, as well as album sales and everything. The artist themselves do make most of their money from live performances.
Independent labels are cool because then the "big" record company doesn't get anything if you are concerned with that. I think everyone that makes the album/track should get a share. Today, a lot of what you hear is done by the producers and mixers in the studio.