Over the years I have found myself drifting away from the mainstream music scene  into the “indie scene” and just recently it made me think about how the music industry will soon fail. About 10 or even 15 years ago the indie rock scene did not exist because then, without a record label, your band could not survive. Granted, you could still play shows and have some success but there would be no way to make the band your only job. It was really hard to do anything then. Recording a CD would have drained all of your funds and to get the CD reproduced professionally was even worse, not to mention the cost of driving across the country from show to show. Also getting people to hear about your band, then the only way was word of mouth and TV/radio, once again the only way you were on radio or TV was if you were on a record label. So what changed this?

10 years ago there was a breakthrough in the world and it was the Internet revolution where everyone was breaking out their 56k modem and surfing online. This was huge for artists that wanted to gain a fan base out of their backyard. They could set up a Web page in 10 minutes and have their music out there and people could find it and e-mail their friends to check it out and so on. Also music recording software and CD burners where becoming easier to access. This was huge for garage bands who could fork out a few bucks and be able to produce their own music on CDs that cost them less then dinner. While this helped many bands at least get their foot in the door, it still wasnt enough to get them nationally known.

Also during this time one indie record label was taking off. Victory Records was, and still is, based out of Chicago, IL. It set up a model in which bands on the label would record a CD, free to them; they would sell the CD in stores and collect the profit from that. Victory would set up the band’s tour, and the band was free to keep the profits of that tour. This was huge for bands trying to get out there and get known to a larger market. Bands that started off like this include Taking Back Sunday, Hatebreed, Atreyu, Hawthorne Heights, and Thursday — all Victory alumni. This label and many others started a revolution in the music industry that threw out the old way of handing artists and music and introduced a way for artists to have complete freedom to do operate on their own terms.

All of this was a great step forward, but a few Web sites changed it all. Smartpunk started off selling CDs from different rock bands that were either on indie labels or not on labels at all. Over time a community started to thrive in the forums that kept growing and growing. So if someone wrote a post about your band, then thousands of people would see your name out there — but where would they listen to your music? That’s where PureVolume came in. On the Web site you can create a profile and upload tracks from your band and anyone online can listen to them or even download them if you choose to let them. This was huge and I, like many others, have found plenty of good bands this way. But one Web site that’s really brought the community and music together is MySpace.

MySpace changed it all. Today every band out there has a MySpace page and has the chance to get discovered, label or not. My friend who books shows has always used MySpace to find a band. All he has to do is type in what kind of band he is looking for and maybe where are they from and he gets a list of bands and has a chance to sample their music, all for free. Before MySpace, if you saw a band live and wanted to know more about them it was almost impossible to find their Web page but with MySpace all you have to do is search for them and there they are. It is so simple and easy to find a new artist to listen to.

So I have a feeling that in 10 years major record labels will be a thing of the past as the Internet is getting cheaper and faster. Radiohead is already changing how things are done, with their new CD you choose how much you want to pay for it, and with how iTunes lets any artist sell their music in the same store as Nickelback and Queen. Many of my friends are taking the indie way of this and are finding sucess like my friends in Veara (check them out). I would love to get your thoughts on this; maybe even you are in a band and have found sucess like this — let me know!

[tags]Music, Record Label, indie rock[/tags]