Salon Reaches Out to Freelancers: Here's Your Piece of the Pie
More often than not, missing to communicate with partners before you come up with a contract will backfire. Salon's terms might not be evil in themselves (though they take a hefty percentage just for distribution), but some prior consultation might have helped.

Since everyone seems wanting to discuss your business model, it might be better for companies to step in and engage into conversations on pricing or contract policies. On the other hand, that will require the average man to grow a better business literacy, because some people will want everything for nothing.

pseudo meta: involve über-consumers in your development process (long post in preparation)