skateboarding and music are immensely similar. call your dlx's and dwindle's major labels - they do huge sales, their artists (riders) are compensated well, they have security. then you have your large indie labels (4AD, Matador, etc) a la FA/Hockey, Polar - well respected, so still pretty well compensated, but not doing mall numbers by any means. then you have indie labels. tum yeto falls into that category. those bands, those teams still fucking tour. because they love it, but also because when you go out there, you build a reputation that will hopefully pay back in dividends. that might be getting on a big shoe company, or getting enough shops hyped on your boards to get per diems. still gotta go out and tour. still gotta show up. sometimes, you show up and lose a bunch of money. that's how this shit goes. it isn't always secure to make art and follow a passion, don't expect it to be middle management at a fortune 500 company