It’s very satisfying to be an independent artist. Artists can pursue their own path without any unwanted influences and publish it on their own terms. The independent artist is on a fairly level playing field with major recording artists. The rise of Post Malone is a great example of how an artist can produce their music and post it on SoundCloud for little to no money. After posting “White Iverson” on SoundCloud in 2015, he quickly got over 1 million plays. Post Malone made the beat in his bedroom. Now he is signed with Republic Records and has broken Spotify streaming records.
The record label business is also changing dramatically. The labels are signing new acts at a shocking rate. Rolling Stone estimated that the majors were signing 2 acts every day (Read more here). It could be argued that the labels couldn’t possibly support the growth of that many new artists but the reality is the artists need to have something unique to offer.
This is good news for independent artists. Why? Not necessarily because the majors are signing 20% more artists than they did in 2014. Rather, it’s the availability of more diverse musical acts who develop on their own first! This is the level playing field from which great music can be heard and artists (independent and signed alike) have to develop their own voice and style.
The major difference today, versus just 10 years ago, is independent artists can get digitally “exposed” to very large audiences. The other major difference is the plethora of great music available to the listener!
If you like exploring new music, please check out Soul Pigeon.
Soul Pigeon 