Who’s Responsible For Indie Music’s Fast Rise To The Top
(By Mike Post)
It’s hard to argue with the idea that independent music is the fastest growing segment of the music industry today.
It’s common knowledge at this point that file sharing and music streaming has decimated the music industry of the past few decades, leaving in its wake a new era of how music is acquired and consumed. This has directly lead to majorly reduced record budgets and is the primary reason we’ve seen such a big rise in the independent music sector. While the term “indie” has become a buzzword that is now attached to so many different styles of music, it’s important to remember that the term was designed to suggest that an artist was independent of a major label, and not necessarily a particular sound. Since there are less and less artists out there who are backed by a major label, it’s clear to see the tradeoff that would account for the ever growing group of indie artists. So while there does seem to be a certain sound that comes along with the term “indie,” I think it’s important to look at it in this context.
I was thinking just the other day that there is almost no new rock music that isn’t “indie.” One can definitely argue that the sound of “indie” rock has its attributes in terms of sound, however the main reason for this title is economics. Since rock songs aren’t particularly in the current pop trends, rock bands signed to major labels are few and far between and therefore must make music on their own. One could even argue that the main ingredient in the sound we’ve come to love in indie rock is a more lo-fi and less produced product than the rock hits that streamed out for decades before it. While this sound has caught on as a trend, it came about simply because of these reduced record budgets, and therefore a less produced sound.
Now that we’ve identified some of the causes of independent music, let’s look at the effects. One study published on TechDirt in 2013 shows a 510% increase from 2003 to 2012 in independent musicians making a full time living in music and 71% increase in indie musicians in general. According to Billboard SoundScan, indie artists and labels had a 34.4% market share of the music industry, up a few percentage points even from the last year. Even without the numbers it’s undeniable that independent artists are getting more attention than ever. It should be said that part of this can be attributed to well known artists now going the independent route but even so, the numbers are staggering.
It makes sense that even well known artists are now taking the independent route in music. With all of the tools that the Internet has to offer, cutting the middleman, aka the major labels out, of the equation is easier than ever. If you’re just starting out, it’s no longer necessary to seek the attention of a label to get your career going. While in the old days getting a record deal was a catalyst to start a career, it seems now that doing so is more the effect of seeing success independently first. Please see my previous blog entry for more reasons why it’s so viable to make it as an independent artist using the net.
I believe that we’ll only continue to see a rise in the percentage of independent artists out there as time goes on. As a listener, this makes me extremely excited. With more independent, accessible artists, comes not only more music to choose from, but in my opinion more quality music to choose from. Without corporations having as much of a say in the music we listen to, comes artists doing what they do best, and that of course is creating art. Even though there’s more music than ever, there is also new and exciting technology that helps us discover the music that we would most likely connect to. For both creators and listeners of music, I can’t think of a more exciting music era to be a part of.
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