Yes they are getting there cut. After the big VCR kickup, there was some form of tax imposed on VCR's and audio cassets. THis allowed them to obtain there cut.
This depends entirely on where you live though. There's never been a tax on recording media in Australia. The national government did ponder on it but thought the idea would put them out of office so it was never implemented. They decided to tax fringe benefits and capital gains instead because those taxes only affect a handful of people.
