There are no record deals these days.
80% of the money in the industry today is from streaming which is full of fraud and must go online via only authorized agents (no direct path for independent self-released artists anymore).
The streaming charts are even faker than this past election. Server farms around the world banking play counts.
There are definitely record deals still. And there’s plenty of options for self-release also.
Rick Beato - I just listened to the Top 10 on Spotify...WTF?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5YZHlzAyxo