Why Supporting Indie Artists In A Good Idea

Independent music (often shortened to indie music or indie) is music produced independently from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.

It gained popularity in the later part of the twentieth century and has been going strong since then. So, why did a need for indie music arise?

Commercialization of Music

When there are record labels involving corporates and brands, music becomes business. While it is not wrong to earn money from music, this commercialization also means that there are too many hands in the pie that ultimately the actual artist / or creator only gets a mere percentage of the actual sales as royalty.

Take this example:

Suppose there is a music album priced at $12 at your nearest store and you buy it to support the artist because you liked their music, a part of it (usually 20 – 30%) goes to the distributor based on how widespread and popular their stores are. They incur the costs involved in stocking and selling the music and it is only natural that they get a share out of it.

The remaining, $8 or $9 roughly, should go to the artist as they are the creators. But in reality, they go to the corporates who produced the album. Again, it is natural for the producers to take a percentage of the sales because of the efforts they put in. The only small problem is, the percentage usually is huge. And it goes to pay the salaries of the executives.

So where does that put the artists? They are at the last of the table, only getting the money after it has been redirected to these routes and filtered down. An artist is often not paid before the sales of the album breaks even and the production charges are covered and a basic profit is attained. Sometimes, no matter how well an album is selling, it might be weeks and months before an artist even earns a penny for the music they created.

Rise of the Indie artists

This trend was probably the main reason why indie artists started making music of their own. Producing and recording their own albums not only gives them the freedom of expression the music requires, it also gives them the money for all the hard work they put in to compose and create the music.

Supporting Indie artists

In the day of internet, where music streaming sites are in abundance, streaming a favorite artist’s song is considered a way to support them. But the premise is wrong. Streaming a song because you like it does not pay the artist (it may pay the company that owns the site, though – defeating the purpose of indie music). When you learn about the top indie songs and the best indie music available at the moment, the natural curiosity leads you towards the streaming sites where you hear the song.

But if you like the song, the best way to support the person who created something you enjoyed would be to buy their Indie Rock music. It is better if this is done directly from their sites or at least in places where you are sure that a large part of the money you give goes directly to them.

And the best supporting thing you could do? Attend their concerts and gift your friends their albums if you really, really loved their music.

Indie music might hide some of the best songs and talents you have probably never heard of and if you are looking for a place to learn about the best new indie music and the top indie albums and what is trending in the indie music scene, live4ever is a good place to start.

About The Author

Charlie Goodwin is an expert in indie rock music who also loves to write interesting articles and blogs about the comings and goings in the global music scene. He recommends Live4Ever.uk.com as the best website for anyone looking for music news and information about bands line Coldplay, Foo Fighters and more.