you'll get exactly what you pay for. you CAN record an album for $50, it depends how skilled you are, not everyone is. You CAN get a student to record you for F all, you CAN record yourself off a PA using shitty peavey gear and a cassette deck. I've run a recording studio for quite a few years now. I don't step out…

you can record your stuff live and straight for $5 k. if you want to do anything more than that to it, like get that awesome drum sound, double track those vocals, harmonies you couldn't sing live cos you're one person, 12 string overdub, tamborine track, blah blah blah,
way to keep music making at the amateur level
and…

"Keep their requests reasonable". ?????
Is it too much to ask that journalists learn how to work a calculator and acquire some business knowledge before naively commenting on what is essentially a business issue?
You seem to think that indie musicians in the modern world are getting rich off the good life. Reality check…

this movie pushes its true story aspect, it's author travels giving speeches on her ordeal, yet there isn't any verification of this case outside of the author and the film makers. 2 murdered cops and a high ranking cop running the thing and also murdered running a white slavery ring on American soil. Those are big…