But don't stop there. You're also going to have to ditch a bunch more labels before you're done. Well, fuck me. I've got some rewrites to do. Those beacons of indie success turn out to be phonies whose claims to indie status are nothing but more of the man's big white lies.
But wait, I have a better plan. I'm going to refuse the purist stance of indie and no longer use the word in any of my writing about the music industry unless I'm quoting a source. So just as I rejected the purist nonsense of political fringe groups back in the 80s and just as I rejected the purist nonsense of anti-poststructuralists in the 90s and just as I rejected the purist nonsense of hip hop heads in the 'oughts, I'm going to reject the purist nonsense of those who still fly the term "indie" as if it was a flag of freedom.
I may or may not clarify my definition at the time in keeping with now widespread practices. But that doesn't mean there's not yet time to set me straight in the comments sections where free speech is safely corraled and unlikely to be read by the majority of this post's readers.
Just as most of this post won't be read by them either. If you'd rather focus on something positive, check out this truly awesome interview with Wanz via my man Manny Faces of Birthplace Magazine , the singer in Thrift Shop who's almost as old as I am.
I won't lie. I actually teared up at a couple of points. But if he's lying too, please don't tell me. I've already lost Santa Claus and Macklemore. And my hypertensive heart just can't take no more. Update 2: Paul Porter from Rap Rehab touched base to point out that his key points were about the fact that many artists who embrace the term indie think they can really break into terrestrial commercial radio and similar difficult to enter spaces all on their own.
But the reality is there are still gatekeepers that need to get paid and you're not going to enter that world simply on the merits of your music. Also, in using his headline to my own ends, I probably gave the false impression that he's something other than a man who I consider a much needed voice and a positive force in hip hop. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde at fluxresearch dot com. Love the passion, Clyde. BTW I can tell you that the battles we and other indie distributors face to get our releases on US Stores shelves and various record events is staggering and shows you the power of indie branding since the majors want to own it too.
Listening to interviews with Kurt Cobain where he tries to wriggle out of rock star status and maintain his indie cred is a good example of how damaging such ideological stances can be. On that note, I miss Kurt! At least people try to clarify what they mean by DIY. Whereas use of the term indie just seems to lead to an inarticulate thicket of confusion. As far as DIY. Thanks man! The indies wanted this so they could have a sales chart and get profile — because they found it difficult to play in the Top 40 which was generally, but not always, the domain of the majors.
Big problem. That debate has never been resolved satisfactorily so we end up with genre charts where indie means…. In many ways it is a waste of time discussing. In artists have businesses. They need finance and physical distribution and marketing. Finance is tough but non-major alternate financing is becoming available. Artists can keep hold of their copyrights and the smart ones do deals where they retain control and use the systems provided. They still have large amounts of people working with them but some get their paycheck from a major and some from non-major.
That the music industry is changing. As one of the top independent hip-hop artists right now , Macklemore managed to achieve the following with the album:. Just to give you some context on a Billboard Hot number one single. Eminem has five, Kanye has three, Jay-Z only has one over a twenty year plus career has one and Drake, with all his commercial prowess, has none.
Mac Miller did it independently. And he had every major label hollering at him with huge seven figure offers and turned it down and still went number one on Billboard. So how did Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, a duo coming out of Seattle manage to hit such commercial heights independently?
Well, aside from creating great music that appealed to a broad spectrum of audiences, the duo were very business savvy and strategic with their distribution.
Since the ADA is the independent arm of Warner Music Group, it gave the duo access to major label resources without having to commit to anything. It was everything that we had always wanted: maintaining our independence with access to radio and thus the masses. At first, Warner said no. I could see them trying to have Youtube charge to upload a video which of course they get some of the proceeds. Their plan seems to be hang on as long as they can until someone else figures out how to make money, and then buy them with whatever cash they have left.
I suspect they will be trying to find the formula used by these artists and using that to take over youtube, maybe even hiding the fact that the artist is signed by a label for a while. If you look at the way the music industry has worked over the years they have been restricting the release of music to push new "stars" and this with youtube will hopefully stop.
Jen G. Lurk-a-lot profile , 4 Apr pm. An interesting question. I'm not sure how that gives them rights to block his videos in various countries. Might be that WMG are overreaching wouldn't be the first time. Might be that Macklemore isn't as independent as he makes out. Internet Zen Master profile , 11 Apr pm. Nah, in terms of indie, Macklemore's still independent.
This is also according to Ryan Lewis a The Heist -only deal. In other words, the record label WMG's subsidiary ADA is doing what record labels should have been doing from the beginning: offering their services out to artists on a project by project basis, doing distribution and promotion for one album at a time.
It would also benefit the record labels, because they wouldn't have to waste time and resources on artists they get in multi-album contracts who turn out to be nothing more than one-hit wonders, and can turn those resources toward promoting new artists or creating more productive ways to provide content Who am I kidding, the cash flow would probably go toward the exec's salaries.
Anonymous , 7 May pm. If so, is this just a rumor or what source did you find that in? Do you know how much he invested into them or how much they invested into him?
Harold , 21 Jun am. He doesn't says it in the way of distribiution but in the freedom of the artist on being a product. Labels design artist but he designed himself as an artist by who he is. AdamR profile , 4 Apr pm. Well that's weird was listening to his album on the way home. Heard one song on a commercial and then saw him on SNL.
Just walk forward, see plaques on the wall Oh yea, in a second those will be all yours Finally see an office with a mounted sign, heaven sent Big block silver letters, read it out loud: President nice!
Come on, no! We're a team, degrees, we will reach your goals! Did you just commit copyright infringement? Did you ask for permission to copy those lyrics and post them on the Internet? They're copyrighted. For justice's sake. Each paragraph counts as one so On second thought why stop there? Needless to say your internet privileges have been revoked. And just to be sure, we'll forward your IP address to Malibu Media so they can sue you for pornography you may have downloaded. After all, John Steele's gotta eat too you know!
Internet Zen Master profile , 4 Apr pm. Can't believe someone else beat me to posting this that's what I get for being a slacker on this kind of thing. Anyway, Macklemore is the kind of artist that other aspiring artists should aspire to be, and not sell their souls to the RIAA.
God I feel hipster when I say this, but I was a fan of "Thrift Shop" and made a huge effort to go and buy physical version of The Heist album.
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