A Breakdown of Indie Record Labels
Many people know what Indie music is, but for those who need a bit of help getting their heads around the way the genrecame about, here’s a short explanation. The word “indie” is a shortened form of “independent” and is used to describe an artist who basically publishes their music themselves, with an independent attitude. They do not use major commercial record labels, and they promote themselves. Getting somewhere was difficult for independent record labels in the United Kingdom around the 1950s and 1960s. This was due to the enormous might of commercial ventures that merely bulldozed over any small start-up label. These small ventures tended to be set up by a British producer as an outlet for their creative energy, but at this time they did not usually meet with much success.
However, when smaller labels banded together to go after the same aim, they tended to find more success. The Grammy Awards is a name that is recognised worldwide nowadays, with people tuning in to watch them with friends or after playing a game of Party Poker. These awards were established by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, an organisation that actually began as a joint venture of 25 independent record labels in the 1950s. These labels included Atlantic Records, and Herald and Ember Records.
The number of independent record labels increased during the punk rock era and an Indie Chart for the UK was established in 1980. The late 1970s saw better organisation of independent distribution and MP3 files began to work their way into the music scene from the late 1990s onwards into the 2000s. Distribution began to change with sites like Apple’s iTunes and Indie Neo-soul from urban underground areas began to emerge from places like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and London.
