The rise of the independent record labels has become
a commonly accepted phenomenon in the music industry. With major labels
struggling and one declaring bankruptcy over the last two years (EMI having
gone as much as $5 billion in debt at one point) it seems like it may be only a
matter of time before indie labels become the biggest force in the industry.
For the most part, the big record labels today have
been around since the start of the modern music industry; The Beatles were on
EMI, Led Zeppelin signed to a branch of Warner Records and Jimi Hendrix released
music through Capitol. While independent labels have been around for a long
time themselves, it is only in recent years that they’ve been able to match the
big labels in signing power. It’s perfectly normal now for major artists like
Adele and Radiohead to be signed to independent labels and still manage to be
world renowned names. This is due mainly in the large amount to technological
improvements that have been made, specifically those improving distribution,
over the past decade or two. People no longer need to start with an enormous
basis of wealth and launch an album in purely physical form around the world.
With online sales and streaming having become a
mainstay in the industry, the big labels have lost more than just their financial
edge in the industry. Major artists such as Thom Yorke and Björk have been
quoted as saying they see the big labels’ new found desperation for profits in
the face of the rising indie labels to restrict the amount of creative freedom
big labels are willing to give their artists, providing further incentive for
many artists to turn to independent labels.
Despite this, it will still be a while until we see
an indie label rise to the point where they can match a major in resources. Statistically
speaking, all current independent labels grouped together make up about 25.2% (up
from 23.2% the previous year) of the industry right now, though 32.6% of music
that was published in 2011 was published by indie labels. Universal Music, in
contrast, is the major label with the biggest share in recorded music, owning
27.9%, though their share has been dropping yearly by around 2%, as has nearly
every other major label with Warner Music being the only big label not to lose
ground last year.
For quite possibly the first time, the fundamentals
of the music industry are changing. New labels are rising with major artists
signings while distribution is becoming cheaper and easier. Independent labels
look to be the way forward as we see them become what may well be the future of
the record industry.
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