Chicago independent labels
Chicago independent labels are the record companies based in Chicago that release music without the backing of one of the 4 major groups, and they are the corner of the small label scene on this site that carries the music the city is known for in the midwest. The Chicago independent label signs the artist in the city, releases the album, and distributes it through the same small label channel that carries the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter music the scene also stocks. There is a long independent history in Chicago, and the scene on this site is the network of the labels that release the music a listener can buy through the small label channel. This page profiles the city's independent labels and the music they release.
This is the guide to the Chicago independent label: it lists the labels and the genres they release, and it explains how the small label scene in the city releases and distributes the music the major does not fully own.
The independent labels in Chicago
The independent labels in Chicago are the companies that release the music the major does not fully stock, and they sit in the city that has an independent label history that runs back decades. The labels to know are the ones that release the blues, the jazz, and the singer songwriter of the city, and they are the small labels that sign the artist in the local scene and release the album in a small run. The Chicago independent label is different from the major's midwest operation in the budget and the control, because the independent keeps the catalogue decision in house and presses a smaller run, and it signs the artist the major does not. The scene on this site carries the Chicago labels through the same channel that carries the rest of the catalogue, and the labels are the companies behind the records the scene releases. The list is the map, and the map is the corner of the scene that sits in the city.
The music the Chicago scene releases
The music the Chicago scene releases is the family of the blues and the jazz that the city carries, and it falls into 4 groups. The first is the blues, the electric Chicago blues that the independent label has released since the 1950s, which the small label scene carries in the same channel as the rest of the blues catalogue. The second is the jazz, the traditional and the modern jazz of the city, which the independent label releases for the audience that wants the roots. The third is the singer songwriter and the folk, the acoustic music of the city, which the small label carries in a small run. The fourth is the hip hop and the soul of the city, which the independent label releases for the urban audience. Each genre has its own labels and its own artists, and the small label scene in Chicago carries all 4 because they share the same audience and the same channel.
How the local labels release and distribute
How the local labels release and distribute is the same loop the rest of the scene runs, only the city has its own studios and its own venues. The release is the album, and the Chicago label records it in the studios of the city and presses it in a small run, and the blues artist often releases the live record as well as the studio album because the form is a live form. The distribution is the 3 channels the small label uses, the direct sales at the shows, the independent distributor that ships to the stores, and the streaming platforms. The Chicago scene releases the music through those channels, and it distributes it through the same independent distributor that carries the world, folk, and jam music. The 3 channels are the path the record takes, and the city is the place where the scene runs them.
Where the Chicago labels sit in the small label scene
Where the Chicago labels sit in the small label scene is in the same independent network that carries the world, folk, jam, and singer songwriter music the scene releases and distributes. The Chicago independent label is one of the city clusters the scene stocks, and it shares the audience and the channel with the Los Angeles, the Nashville, and the Atlanta labels. A listener who comes in for the Chicago music finds the blues and the jazz on the same shelves, because the small label treats the whole family as one scene rather than as separate catalogues. The 3 things that tie the labels to the scene are the format, the press run, and the audience, and they are the same 3 that tie the other city clusters to the scene. The Chicago labels are part of the small label scene, and the scene is the network that releases and distributes the music, which is the role this page describes.