The Impact of Indie Music on Major Labels

Today I received one of many emails from an indie artist looking for a review of their music. With so many inquiries daily it is nearly impossible to keep up and review what you have waiting in a box. This time it was different. A metal band from Iran was looking for some ink on their new release. They were forced to operate in an underground fashion because of government restraints. The parallels I recognized between that situation and the major label mentality was astoundingly similar. Everyone has heard the story before, the band finally makes it, the label signs them to a lucrative album deal and thereby controls the band's destiny, tells them what kind of album to record or not record, the list goes on and on.

Today indie music is flourishing because of the Internet and no major label interference. The artist ultimately has all the control now. This can be good and bad depending on the multitude of skills band members have and their ability to put all of their ducks in a row, not allowing them to get out of step or fall down. All the major labels can do to compete at this point is to live off their past and continue to pump out reissues. This is very indirect competition actually because in most cases they are simply not competing for the same dollar, it's an entirely different demographic. The suits and the man are losing the battle and the indies are winning the war.

The major labels lost a long time ago, they had their chance to conform to the Internet and its social networking ways but they decided to continue doing what always worked and paid the ultimate price, massive revenue drop off and hence huge layoffs of staff. All the while indie music flourishes with every passing day, perpetuating their own self fulfilling prophecy by embracing the Internet and interacting with a fan base that wants to hear their music.

Are you a musician looking for an opportunity? Create your own, the Internet is your oyster!

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck
January 5, 2010