What price tag are we putting on the Independent Music Industry? Photo Courtesy of Billy Alexander

Being involved with independent music as either recording artist or labels, we often think ourselves immune to the problems of the big boy commercial music industry. We think, “Oh, we are indie. We don’t worry about money. We make our music solely for the fans. The indie recording labels are recording our songs because they all want to help the musicians be successful.”

Oh wait…. You didn’t think that? Me neither.

We all know that recording labels and musicians, commercial or indie, all need money to survive and produce more music. While, as independent artists, we often have more freedom to record what we want the way we want to, we still have bills to pay, equipment to buy and studio space to rent. We can’t continue to function as indie labels and artists with absolutely no income from the music.

We saw an example of this yesterday when the popular indie rap label, Definitive Jux Records, announced they were calling it quits. The recording artist, producer and founder of Definitive Jux Records, El-P, made the announcement of the indie label leaving the scene citing lack of steady income and personal reasons, proving the point that even though an independent recording artist or label can compete with the best of the best, we are still subject to the same problems that take the commercial labels down.

Indie isn’t perfect. We still have to evolve if we want to remain a long lasting part of the music revolution. This is our year. We are taking over the charts and the music world but we cannot rest on our laurels and think we can stay at the top of our game.

As independent recording artists, we have to bear some of the responsibility. When an indie label crashes, we lose a part of our team and some of those losses are because we didn’t do anything to support them. When recording artists have seen awesome success working with a label, they should show loyalty.

Unfortunately, some of the more popular indie recording artists have reached a point in their fame where they bit the hand that fed them and dropped their labels entirely when the time came to show support. For an example, research the band Radiohead and you will notice that they distributed their 2007 release, In Rainbows. directly to the fans and only offered it through the label as an afterthought. Sure, this was great for the fans. It was great for Radiohead as a publicity stunt. But you can bet, the indie label that recorded them felt the bite and it won’t be one they will soon forget when the next small time band with a great new sound comes asking for help getting their recording careers off the ground.

Let’s face it. If we don’t support the indie labels that help us get where we are going, we are no better than the commercial recording labels that have overlooked the needs of the recording artists for decades. If we don’t continue to move forward and improve the independent music world, in a few decades, we may hear the same sad stories we hear about the commercial Music Industry today being used to describe the Independent Music Industry. We can do better. We have to do better. It starts with each of us recognizing the flaws and doing our part to fix them.

What do you think? Do you agree that we have to keep moving forward? What areas do you see that need improvement? Please, leave me a comment and share your thoughts.