Today's independent musician is often called an "Indie," a
term used to describe a type of music genre characterized
by their independence from commercial record label
companies. Indie artists typically go against the current
trends and often have an entrepreneurial approach to
recording and publishing their music.
Indies originated with punk bands during the '70s where
people in this scene were involved in bands with fan bases
who shared similar ideas. Indies are known to go on
self-funded tours, often to other countries, where those in
the local Indie scenes help organize gigs and joint tours.
Indies also seem to possess a lack of sophistication that
is often associated with commercial record labels, but the
line is becoming more and more blurred thanks to a new
digital world with the Internet where high-quality
recordings can be made easily with inexpensive
computer-based recording systems.
Now artists can introduce their music to a big audience
worldwide at low cost without being with a major recording
label. Digital music software encourages the discovery of
this new music, while websites with large libraries of
songs are quite successful. Independent bands have never
had it better, and they can even get royalties.
With the arrival of newer and relatively inexpensive
recording devices and instruments, more individuals are
able to participate in the creation of music than ever
before. Studios are rented by the hour and are very costly,
and sometimes even hard to find. Today anyone can produce
studio-quality music from their own home. An artist is able
to experiment with different sounds and styles without
necessarily spending the money in the studio.
Furthermore, CDs on demand make it possible for Indie
artists to sell their music without manufacturing and
storing thousand of discs. Orders can be filled from an
Indie label's site on an as-needed basis. This makes it
possible for artists to get their music in front of the
public with very little expense and little or no inventory.
Thanks to on demand production, many bands have chosen to
forego a record label and instead market and distribute
their music through entirely web-based means. Some artists
have broken away from the format of major labels and have
developed a unique platform in which the label's they can
retain ownership of their music, copyrights and the rights
to any content and masters. The platform includes some
innovative ideas but clearly the CD and DVD on demand
production model s a major focal point. They feel that lack
of financial resources should not be a determining factor
as to whether an artist's music is heard by the public.
According to ASR's Chairman and Co-founder Alaadeen, in
order to get a good rate to manufacture CDs, he had to
manufacture large quantities. This led to excessive
inventory.
Most artists also maintain their own websites and
participate in social media marketing activities such as
music blogs and websites like Myspace.com or Facebook.
Independent music companies often use these to rate a band
after listeners have voted to determine if they like the
music or not, thus expensive talent search and development
in the music industry is no longer needed.
Currently the sale of digital music makes up only five to
ten percent of the total income generated from music sales,
but the numbers are increasing as record labels diminish,
and Indies grow. On a national level, more and more people
are adapting broadband Internet connections so it will be
easier for them to access digital music online in the
future.
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Kristin Gabriel is the marketing communications director
for Acutrack, Inc. (http://www.acutrack.com). The company
enables customers to create, publish and deliver custom
content for CD and DVD duplication worldwide. Acutrack's
proprietary On Demand production produces and ship custom
packaged CDs or DVDs one at a time.
