Independent record labels

An independent record label is a company that releases and distributes music without the backing of one of the 4 major groups, and the small label scene that this site is about is the network of those independent labels working in the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter genres. The definition turns on independence: the label owns its masters, it sets its own catalogue, and it answers to its artists and its audience rather than to a major's marketing department. There are tens of thousands of independent labels in the world, and the scene on this site is the corner of it that releases the independent music a listener can buy through the small label channel. This page defines the term, maps the scene, and lists the labels a listener should know.

Illustration: Fresh vinyl records at a pressing plant in a row of metal molds.

This page is the guide to the small label scene: it defines what an independent record label is and does, explains how one works and how it makes money, compares it with the major, and maps the labels and the cities where the scene concentrates.

What an independent record label is and does

What an independent record label is and does comes down to 4 jobs that the label performs for the artist. The first is signing: the label chooses an artist and takes on the cost and the risk of releasing the music. The second is releasing: the label records, mixes, and masters the album and presses the CD, the vinyl, or the digital files. The third is distributing: the label gets the finished product into the stores, the streaming platforms, and the hands of the listeners. The fourth is promoting: the label books the shows, writes the press, and keeps the artist in front of the audience. A small label does all 4 in-house or with a small team, which is the difference from a major that has a department for each job. The independent label is the company behind the record a listener buys from the small label scene, and it is the unit the whole scene is built from.

How an independent label works and makes money

How an independent label works and makes money is a simple loop with 2 sides. On the cost side the label pays for the recording, the mastering, the pressing, and the distribution, and on a small label that is a few thousand dollars per release. On the revenue side the label collects from the sales, the streaming royalties, the sync licenses, and the merch, and it splits that with the artist. The independent label makes money when the record sells enough to cover the cost and leave a margin, and the small label scene lives on that margin rather than on a subsidy. How much an independent label makes depends on the genre and the audience, and the world, folk, and jam music the scene releases is a niche that pays a small but steady income rather than a big hit. The 3 numbers that describe the business are the press run, the split, and the royalty rate: the label presses a few thousand copies, it splits the revenue with the artist, and the streaming royalty per play is a fraction of a cent, which is why the small label leans on the direct sales and the vinyl as much as the stream. The model is the same for every independent label in the scene, and it is what the small label releases and distributes are built on.

Major versus independent label

Major versus independent label is a comparison that comes down to 3 things: the money, the control, and the catalogue. The major label has the budget to press 500,000 copies and to run a global campaign, and it takes the majority of the revenue in return. The independent label has a budget for a few thousand copies, and it keeps the control and a larger share of the revenue on the records it releases. The major's catalogue is the mainstream, and the independent's catalogue is the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter music the mainstream leaves out. The difference is not quality, it is scale and control, and the listener who wants the music the major does not stock is the listener the independent label serves. The scene on this site is built on that difference, and it is the reason the small label exists at all: it releases the music the major will not and keeps the control of it.

The labels and the cities of the scene

The labels and the cities of the scene are where the small label scene physically sits, and the independent label concentrates in a handful of cities where the studios, the presses, and the venues are close together. The cities a listener should know are the ones where the scene is densest, and they include Los Angeles, Nashville, Chicago, and Atlanta in the United States, and London in the United Kingdom, each with its own cluster of small labels and its own genre focus. The scene also runs through the international channels, with independent labels in India and across Europe releasing the world music the scene carries. A map of the scene is a map of these cities, and the labels in each one are profiled on the city pages of this site, from the Los Angeles and California labels to the Nashville, the Chicago, and the Atlanta labels. The independent hip hop labels and the labels that sign new artists are covered on their own pages, and they are part of the same network. The list is the map, and the map is the scene.

How to find an independent label

How to find an independent label is easiest through the music rather than through the company name. A listener who buys a record from the small label scene already holds the label's name on the back of the box, and that is the entry point to the rest of the catalogue. The next step is to follow the label, to see what else it has released in the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter genres, because the small label signs a family of artists rather than a single hit. The distribution is the other entry point, because the independent label sends its records through the same independent distributor that the scene uses, and the distributor's list is a list of the labels in the scene. The 3 ways to find a label are through a record, through the genre shelf, and through the distributor, and all 3 lead to the same network that releases and distributes the music on this site. The scene is the collection of those labels, and the labels are the companies behind the records, and that is the small label world this guide is about.