LA independent labels
LA independent labels are the record companies based in Los Angeles and the wider California scene that release music without the backing of one of the 4 major groups, and they are one of the densest corners of the small label scene on this site. The Los Angeles 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 are a large number of independent labels in California, and the scene on this site is the network of the ones that release the music a listener can buy through the small label channel. This page maps the local labels and their focus.
This is the guide to the Los Angeles and California 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 independent labels in Los Angeles
The independent labels in Los Angeles are the companies that release the music the major does not fully stock, and they concentrate in the parts of the city where the studios and the venues are. The labels to know are the ones that release the singer songwriter, the folk, and the indie music 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 Los Angeles independent label is different from the major's California operation in the budget and the control, because the independent keeps the catalogue decision in house and presses a smaller run. The scene on this site carries the Los Angeles 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 genres the California scene releases
The genres the California scene releases are the families of the music the small label scene carries from the state, and they fall into 4 groups. The first is the singer songwriter and the indie folk, the acoustic guitar and the voice that share its form with the indie folk the scene also releases. The second is the world music and the fusion, the music that mixes the traditional scale with the electric band, which the independent label releases for the audience that wants the roots. The third is the jam and the psychedelic, the long form music that the California scene has released since the 1960s and that the small label still carries. The fourth is the hip hop and the pop 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 California 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 presses and its own stores. The release is the album, and the Los Angeles label presses it in a small run at a plant in the state or in another city, and it releases it on the CD and the vinyl and the digital. 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 California 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 LA labels sit in the small label scene
Where the LA 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 Los Angeles independent label is one of the city clusters the scene stocks, and it shares the audience and the channel with the Nashville, the Chicago, and the Atlanta labels. A listener who comes in for the Los Angeles music finds the singer songwriter and the folk 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 LA 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.