Only indie artists can do that. Record companies are now signing musicians and bands to what they call "360" accounts, meaning that the company controls every aspect of how the musician might make money, from digital presence to merch to advertising to touring. By staying independent, they can make their own deals, but then they have the problem that they can't get on the radio and have a hard time getting known.
Do those deals have expirations, or are they "for life"?
I feel like once a musician is established, the label should have to justify their ongoing role in that musician's career, and certainly in the past lots of musicians have switched labels or started their own small labels later on in their career.
5-10-15 years and more is not unheard of. In case a musicians becomes established they will just say it's the result of their support and their investments, so that's when they push for max returns (see the many stories of rushed albums which labels forced out of the artists while trying to ride the wave of initial success).
