Is this the best time for Independent artists?
The independent music space has historically been positioned as second place to the giants of the music industry, The major music labels. The big three are Sony Music, Universal, and Warner. Due to their scale and monetary backing, major labels have dominated the top echelon of the music industry and for artists aiming to achieve global success, it seemed that the only way was through the doors of one of these major labels.
However, we can now see that the tide is changing. The independent sector has seen a huge growth in market share and global reach, altering the playing fields for independent artists and now offering a space for unsigned artists to reach the top of the industry without ever having to give away any of their rights.
To understand this change in the industry we need to understand the role majors play in the industry and their relationship with artists. Major Record labels act as the institution in which the music industry has been built, they control the biggest share of global market share and are home to some of the biggest artists in the world. These facts coupled with international reach and significant budgets have made it so getting a record deal by one of these companies is the gold standard marking an artist's success.
Despite this there has always been disputes between artists and the majors, a big reason for this is due to the ownership of an artist and their music that comes with such a deal. Major labels are entitled to a bigger percentage of an artist's royalties and can limit creative control.
The alternative to the industrialised path of the majors is going independent. There are many definitions of what makes an artist independent, for this article we will be using the basic understanding of an artist who is not signed to a major label. The independent route has been seen as a way for artists to maintain creative control, and hold on to more of their rights and royalties with the drawbacks being a lack of advance funding and growth potential internationally. Being independent also means that more of the work done to grow an artist such as marketing, A&R and promotion falls to the artist themself.
This paradigm is changing, as the digital space becomes ever more present, the reach of independent artists is expanding and global success is becoming more common for unsigned artists. Streaming services have allowed for artists to reach wider audiences through digital distribution. Services such as Venice Music also take on tasks such as marketing, pitching to DSP’s and finding sync opportunities for independent artists. Allowing independent artists to focus more time on creating music.
This change isn't going unnoticed as companies such as DOWNTURN aim to support “the extraordinary growth of the independent music economy”. Altering the notion of limited funding in the independent music sector both DOWNTURN and BeatBread have created funds investing $200 million and $100 million respectively into the independent music sector.
We are now living in an age where it is no longer uncommon for the top spots in the charts to be held by independent artists. We are seeing success stories such as Raye, getting her first no.1 Billboard Hit as an independent artist, Little Simz winning a Mercury Award beating major label superstars and one of the biggest artists Bad Bunny, an independent artist being the most streamed artist on Spotify for three consecutive years.
This significant growth in the sector, emphasises how “Independent and self-distributed artists in the long run will continue to erode the market dominance of Universal, Sony and Warner.” Tracy Maddux, DOWNTOWN.
“With artists developing and being successful independently, it’s going to be an opportunity for the major labels, whether they want to or not, [to improve] the fairness in how their deal terms are [structured]. It’s not just the major labels, but everybody’s deal terms.” Ty Baisden (Manager of Brent Faiyaz)
There are still areas that still need to develop in the independent music sector, such as fairer pay percentages from streaming services, more funding for the live music sector and standardised industry practices that protect independent artists from right violations and their work being used to train AI software without permission or compensation.
Despite this, it is undeniable that the independent music sector is in a place of exponential growth and I hope that this encourages a change in the industry that gives artists more leverage to dictate their careers.
