Sunday, July 3, 2011

Indie record labels: making music for the love of it

BBC 6Music's Steve Lamacq, who will co-present the Aim Independent Music Awards with Huw Stephens, explains the success of the sector

It's about time that someone shone a light on these labels of love. The only difficult thing will be trying to give props to all the different people who deserve it, there are cases to be made for all sorts of characters.

Most label founders are just fans at heart, who ended up becoming good at business. You do find people who are ambitious and want to be the next Atlantic Records, but the majority just like making records.

It is difficult for the majors now because they are such huge machines that it takes them a very long time to change; it's hard to evolve when you are a big clunky organism and they have little room to manoeuvre in the new landscape. But indies can turn a profit by selling 10,000 and are just more focused on making exciting music and nurturing the talent that they have got. A lot of the artists you see coming through now have made it because they have been given time to develop.

Indies are important for the future of the industry because I can't see a major taking the risks on a band that may only find their feet after two albums. I think people, particularly the older generation who still buy a lot of music, appreciate that passion and understand that it is a labour of love.


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/04/independent-music-awards-steve-lamacq

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