Happy Independents Day my indie friends!
You know, the best thing about being an independent artist is you can do your thing on your own terms. I was having lunch with one of our Indieheaven members, Sean Smith the other day, and he tells me if a record label would want to sign him he wouldn’t do the deal.

The issue is once you become dependent, your life stops being yours. You are owned by the label. And, what is more interesting is that you are not guaranteed a paycheck. You are guaranteed to work far more than you probably want! See, when you are owned, you have to jump when the man says jump.

Ask most signed artists what they learned while being signed to a label and they will tell you they worked harder and made less money than when they were an independent artist. And, they were obligated to the label to do what they were told. That’s what being dependent is all about. You work for a company who tells you what to do, where to go, what to wear, what to say…. and you might get paid. Interesting!

So, why are many independent artists still chasing after the labels to sign them? It’s because for some reason, they want to be dependent. Why would they want to be dependent? It’s because most do not want to work and want others to do their work for them. All they want is the glamorous parts of being an artist. What they do not get is that it is very, very difficult being a full time artist, with or without a record label.

Let’s face it, we are in a time where it is very difficult to do music ministry full time. Most churches have stopped booking artists and doing concerts because of budgets being tightened up. Gas is over $4 a gallon, headed for $5. If you do the coffeehouse circuit, get ready to make nothing and play to 5 people.

It’s not easy, but at least being independent, you can control your own life. You can decide to do your music part time, get a real job and make some bucks. You can use the tools on the www to reach people and cultivate fans.

Most of the major record labels are trying to survive these tough times. As music has become devalued to where its worth next to nothing, and profit per customer is almost non-existent.

Here’s the latest info from “Digital Music News” and these reports concern the mainstream music industry, however, the big 3 labels all have Christian divisions.

Album sales in the United States took a serious bath during the first half of this year, according to figures supplied by Nielsen Soundscan. Aggregated physical and digital albums dropped a significant 11 percent during the period, another discouraging data point for a beleaguered business. In total, the recording industry shifted 204.6 million units during the first half, down from 229.8 million during the comparable, year-ago period.

Gainers included Warner Music Group and the independent sector. Warner bumped to 20.8 percent, up from 20 percent, and the independent sector posted a share of 13.9 percent, up from 12.9 percent during the comparable period last year.

Check that out, independents are gaining on the majors!
It is a Happy Independents day!

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