I agree with most of what you say, but the converse side of it is, without the Northern scene, none of the artists would have benefitted anyway from the reissues and live performances that they have benefitted from over the last twenty years.
Certainly I have seen many more live acts because of the Northern scene than I would have if it didn't exist, so those artists all benefitted. I've bought hundreds of CDs, so the artists benefitted from those (assuming the company paid what was owed, and assuming of course that the artists actually still own any of the track, bearing in mind that many of the records that were made were sold at the time as one offs to less than reputable record company owners)
So, whilst I happily pay lots of money for a single which doesn't benefit the artist at all, I also like to think that without people like me, a lot of artists would be unrecognised and unknown. I know that the artists I've spoken to are a lot more impressed with the recognition they receive now, in this country, than the cash they received when their records were made !