When I started playing the SF clubs in the late 80's there were a lot of great bands in town. Back then major labels ran the music business and everyone in San Francisco was trying to "get signed". It was around that time an independent label formed in SF called Heyday records. Heyday took on bands that didn't really have aspirations of getting major deals and before long they had about ten acts on their roster. The label promoted itself by taking out adds in BAM (Bay Area Music) magazine, booking "Heyday Record" nights, where their bands would share a bill, and by asking each band they signed to add "Heyday Recording Artist" to their name in interviews or print. 

A friend of mine was in a Heyday band. I asked him about the label and was surprised to hear they received no financial backing from Heyday at all. The artists paid for the recording, the manufacturing of their CD's and merchandise, and were offered no advances or tour support. I couldn't figure it out at the time. What was the advantage of being on a record label if they didn't do anything for you? What I didn't realize was that Heyday WAS doing something for their artists. Something I couldn't see. The label wasn't there to finance the projects, but to associate like minded musicians and bands and build a reputation for quality music that would eventually create credibility and success for everyone. Though they got no money, being a Heyday band squeezed you though a tiny filter onto a level just above the fifty other bands that were trying to get booked in SF on a weekend night. Heyday Records was an early Indy and still exists today. 

As time went on many more Indy labels emerged and there are dozens now. Some are low on the ladder and some have been started by ex-major label vets and given instant credibility. Some have been put together on a shoestring budget while others have started with lots of capital. No matter what the origin of the label, the thing all Indy's have in common is that they are passionate about music. While the major labels create and sell "product", Indy labels are seen as the place for true music lovers.

Instead of taking 80-85% of record sales like major labels do, Indy labels typically split the money with the artist 50-50. In return for the generous royalty rate, though, Indy labels don't give huge recording advances and don't provide much (if any) tour support. This is good because the band has less to "recoup" but it also makes it hard because the expense of touring can sink you quickly if you're not drawing well and selling merchandise at shows. For that reason it's important that an Indy band be somewhat self sufficient coming in to the deal. Where majors spend money (and time) grooming a band for success, Indy labels sign artists that have already learned how to record and tour on their own and are at a point where they can capitalize on the distribution, publicity, and contacts an Indy label can provide.

Like Heyday in the 80's, another advantage of an Indy deal is the association you get from being on a particular label. While major labels represent many artists and many different styles of music, Indy labels have less signings and tend to stick with one kind of music. Indy labels might focus on Rock, Americana, Celtic, Bluegrass, etc. but they rarely do it all. Being on a label that has a focused roster of similar bands helps define the artist with the public. 

When my band, The Bittersweets, finished recording our debut album we were offered a deal from Virt Records in Seattle. We liked Virt's artists, among them Vienna Teng, who had released two great records on the label. Vienna had been featured on NPR and Late Night with David Letterman and, though neither of her records sold more than 40,000 copies, Virt's low overhead allowed both the label and artist to make money. Using a more band friendly, low budget approach, Virt and Vienna did well with sales figures that would have been considered a failure at a major label.

Here's how it happened with the Bittersweets:

We signed with Virt Records to release "The Life You Always Wanted". The label paid us some of what we'd spent making the record and financed the mixing and manufacturing. All told, our debt was around $10,000 when the record came out. (Much better than the $600,000 tab Counting Crows was staring down at the same point in the process.) Of course, the Bittersweets had no aspirations of selling millions and millions of records like Counting Crows. Millions sold would have been great but the beauty of this situation was that if we sold just a few thousand copies we could make enough to support ourselves and do another record. 

Virt's distribution was set up well and they were able to get us press in some great magazines. We weren't going to crack Rolling Stone without a big hit but we did get on Paste magazine's compilation, which, in our opinion, is a more interesting magazine anyway. Virt was also able to get us on the radio in many markets. Many were college adds but our single "Long Day" was also added to a lot of well respected AAA stations. Besides radio, we also had songs from the record placed on ABC's "Men In Trees", TNT's "Saving Grace", and we were able to open shows for Rosanne Cash, Train, and the Cowboy Junkies. 

In the end, the record did well enough to justify another recording but we lost money because the cost of touring killed us. Touring is always hard financially, but especially when you are from the West Coast and trying to pull it off during a gas crunch. We have since relocated to Nashville, where the proximity to other major markets will give us a great leg up on the next touring cycle.

Indy labels are now recognized as a legitimate segment of the record business. Their reinvented model of how a record label can work has had time to mature and shape, and now has better odds of making a profit on a release than a major label does. For a while, after Nirvana (Sub Pop) and Green Day (Lookout!) had big Indy records, the majors started buying them up and it became common for bands to use an Indy label as a step up to a major. But this concept has changed as Indy labels have caught up and passed the majors in terms of relevance. Now solid Indys will turn down a major label buy out, and astute musicians are no longer banking on "Hit" records. As albums continue to be made and played the procedures and strategies must continually change to meet the times and, for now, Indy labels are an excellent way to try to sell records.

Reasons to sign with an Indy:

They have distribution and publicity you don't have

They give you more money per record sold

You will be on a roster with like minded artists

You won't get "dropped" if you don't sell a million records

The downside:

There is less financial help

You need to tour a lot (on your dime)

You probably won't have a national or international "hit" 

Next time: Starting your own label.