Most likely any artists who negotiated their contracts before the age of online music won't get a penny either.
Record companies and publishers don’t pay anybody what’s due them unless there’s an iron-clad, bullet-proof deal requiring it. Even when there is a contract calling for payment, many make it more costly and troublesome than most are willing or able to go through. “Airplay” royalties are the only ones a writer can effectively collect because that moey goes through the licensing organization. “Mechanical” royalties, which go through the record companies and publishers, are often not likely to reach the writer. I think it’s been that way for a long, long time. The good news is that a smart, young, talented artist/writer/band can self-market via the internet today, controlling the music from beginning to end. It won’t get airplay on commercial radio, but that market is shrinking anyway. Selling CDs or downloads online is a market that is readily accessible to the savvy artist and far more profitable to the artist than selling CDs which feed the record company first.