There have been attempts at individual artists (Garth Brooks) or small groups of Artists (Tidal) to create their own services. The problem is that it is very hard to get users to be aware of a new service, to try a new service and to pay for a new service. Most people don’t know what labels any of their favorite artists are on, and nearly no one listens to the artists of only a single label. Trying to remember when to use the Sony Service to listen to one band you want or the Universal service to listen to another is far too hard. If you want to make a playlist that includes both, you are out of luck. Also, how much money are you willing to spend to get access to all the bands you want to hear?

Additionally, creating a streaming service is hard, labels aren’t good at being software companies. So the services they make would not be at the same level of quality or innovation that people expect these days.

The main thing labels were competing with is Piracy. When artists walled off their music from people by creating obscure streaming services or keeping their music off of streaming, the songs would just be pirated or posted illegally on services like YouTube. In the end, it is in the best interest for artists and labels to get their music to their fans, and labels understand that.