🔵 Recognising the true value of indie labels

In an age of music conglomerates with a myriad of interests, let's take a mo to appreciate the classic, traditional indie record label

Hi there -

I really enjoyed reading MBW’s breakdown today of XL Recordings’ latest financials. In short, despite only releasing 8 albums last year, it made a mighty $12.8M in profit. Naturally a good chunk of this was down to the label’s catalogue signings, and I’d imagine Adele alone represented a fair proportion of that given the label owns the rights to her first three albums.

This had me reflecting on what XL Recordings is - indeed, what it has always been: a record label.

That might sound obvious, but when you consider a lot of music businesses in 2024, a good deal of them might look a little more like, for example, Believe - that is, a large company comprised of sprawling ownerships involving labels, publishing, distribution, DIY platform access and more.

In 2024, “just” being a record label feels like more of a rare thing.

Some labels have been around a good while and they built stability from signing great, long-lasting acts. There are many who have stayed in their lane, focusing on what they do best: signing great bands. I don’t think we need to trot out examples, but I’d say XL Recordings, Domino, Warp, Ninja Tune and even the likes of Partisan (who are a relative newcomer here, in that I believe it was only formed in 2007) are just a few.

In an age where mega stars are less likely to occur, and where the life of an artist enjoying success can sometimes be measured in months rather than years, the persistence of indie record labels in focusing on their craft is something I feel is undervalued.

Really though, this also had me reflecting on the humble beginnings of these labels, as well as where they are now. However I also worry that it is a model increasingly under threat.

Over the long weekend just past, here in the UK, I was down in Brighton with a friend of mine. We’d discovered a record shop so amazing that I won’t even name it here for fear of ruining that special secret spot (sorry! Hassle me and I might tell!). After spending about £150 on all manner of secondhand treasures, we left. As we strolled down the street, my friend remarked that it was crazy to think that back in the day, Warp Records had started life as a record shop no bigger than the one we were in: just a small, local spot, selling choice selections to keen heads in Sheffield.

Fast forward to the present of course, and Warp is an institution; one built on a litany of legendary, highly influential signings. (Full disclosure: it is also a Motive Unknown client, as are Domino and Partisan).

My point is that these labels all started from very humble beginnings: local scenes, indie record stores etc. Since then they have grown into long-standing, stable indie power houses, and it is because of the quality of music they signed and really backed, investing in marketing those artists and driving awareness.

Marketing is undoubtedly getting harder. TV does not count for much now as a means to influence people. Radio’s power is massively diminished. Press is all but dead. Social media, which promised so much in breaking artists (whilst killing off all the aforementioned platforms) is flattening out into non-social, algorithmically-driven TV 2.0.

Getting a small label from the starting point that XL, Domino and more had in the 1980s, to where they are now in 2024, feels like an increasingly uphill task. In fact, I’d be genuinely curious to hear if there are labels readers feel have truly risen up in the last couple of years from genuinely humble beginnings to looking like long-standing, permanent fixtures. Personally, I feel the list is short - and getting shorter.

In the face of this shattered landscape, A&R is doubtless getting harder too. Where does one find new talent? What criteria are being used to assess the appeal? Too often, it feels like A&R has become about chasing viral moments on TikTok, and yet with the exception of a very limited number of artists, no one is really making a career stick. It feels like a grim state of affairs.

In an age of increasingly disposable music, and large conglomerates focused on widespread ownership rather than a tight specialism, I feel the success of indie labels like XL is something worth reflecting on. Could that be repeated now? It is hard to say. Perhaps one consistency across all the aforementioned labels (and a good deal of others) is that they followed their own gut when signing acts, and did not rely on metrics like view counts, follower numbers or engagement stats.

Maybe that is the change that is needed now; a return to the classic approach to A&R. I’d love to see how much things might change if that happened. Either way, I’d argue XL’s success is a reminder of just how much one can achieve when focusing not on being all things to all people, but instead really nailing being amazing at one thing.

Have a great evening,

D.

P.S. I highly recommend reading Richard King’s “How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks who made Independent Music 1975-2005”. I’d argue it is required reading for anyone working in the indie music space, but I think it also gives you an appreciation for just how far these labels have come. All power to them.

🎶 listening to “Inner Space” by Tom Caruana. What happens if you take the music (and especially the drum breaks) of krautrock legends Can, then layer on classic hip hop acapellas, and finally involve some of the greatest scratch DJs to add icing on top? Inner Space is the answer, and it is absolutely incredible. Highly recommend the instrumental version too, which perfectly shows off what a fine job Caruana did with Can’s work here.

📺 watching “The Importance of Real Things” on YouTube. My friend and colleague Pete sent me this, and it really struck a chord, though that’s perhaps not a shock if you’ve been reading Network Notes of late. Really though this is an essay of sorts about the value of owning things, and the precarious friction that exists between the convenience of streaming platforms (and other instant-access platforms like Kindle etc) and the more simple approach of owning physical items. It’s a great watch - make time for it (and it’s only 17mins!).

🤖 playing with Soundiiz, the DSP migration/sync platform that helps you move from one service to the other. I think we all knew it did that, but did you know you could also sync things like your Discogs collection, or your Plex library? Sorely tempted to use this to exit Spotify and consolidate everything onto something smaller with better editorial - someone mentioned QoBuz as being good on that front recently.

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Stories worth reading from the Music Industry:

Source: MBW

XL Recordings posted a $12.8m profit last year… despite only releasing 8 new albums

So how does XL clock such big commercial numbers on such a low volume of new releases? One heck of a catalog helps, including recordings from the likes of Adele, The Avalanches, Badly Drawn Boy, Basement Jaxx, Gil Scott-Heron, Jungle, M.I.A., The Prodigy, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Tyler the Creator, and Vampire Weekend. A particularly momentous thing happened to XL in 2021, when the label (and its co-owner Beggars Group) recaptured the American recording rights to Adele’s first three albums – 19, 21, and 25.

👆🏻Hot take: at a time where even indie music businesses can become a sprawl of various interests (Believe being a case in point), there’s something refreshing about seeing a label enjoy massive success through doing one thing: signing great bands.

Tidal launches royalty tracking features for artists

Artists who already have a PRO and IPI number can claim their profile on Tidal after verifying their documentation, and start tracking royalties. Tidal has added a dashboard that shows the artist’s IPI, PRO and publisher information, as well as which of their recordings have all the artist and royalty information registered, tracks without a matching listing on Tidal and any tracks that Tidal thinks could be the artist’s work, but are not credited properly.

👆🏻Hot take: kudos to Tidal for launching this. I’ve said before now that publishing is not my strong suit, hence me rarely writing about it, but I would imagine this kind of tool would be welcome across all DSPs were songwriters given the option.

Share music like it's 2011 with Instagram's new Spotify test

In 2011, Facebook made a big push into music with partners including Spotify, and one of the key features was… the ability to continuously share everything you were listening to on Spotify to a ‘ticker’ on Facebook via the latter’s new ‘Open Graph’ initiative. Continuously sharing music with your entire network of friends fizzled out as a concept fairly quickly, but it is seemingly being revived in 2024 as part of Instagram’s latest music efforts.

👆🏻Hot take: I really don’t get this. As Music Ally note, we’ve had this before and it didn’t work then. I can’t help but feel tech platforms are just getting desperate to generate more noise as activity on platforms. Who needs a constant stream of whatever you’re listening to?

Music Venue Trust highlights closure of venues from first Oasis tour

“The sobering reality that only 11 of the 34 grassroots music venues that Oasis played on their first tour still exist today,” it noted in a post on social media. “Gone are 23 spaces that took a punt on a new band from Manchester who would become one of the most iconic in British music history. That’s 23 communities that aren’t getting the chance to hear the chords of the next ‘Definitely Maybe’ for the first time.”

👆🏻Hot take: this is a great move from the MVT. Just a very savvy way to ride the Oasis moment we’re having here in the UK by highlighting just how few venues remain from the band’s earlier days.

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Notable news from the world of tech:

AI may be distracting organizations from other IT priorities

Is chasing the promise of generative AI causing companies to neglect other IT services? IBM seems to think so. Big Blue claims that while IT leaders are focused on preparing their organizations for generative AI adoption, confidence in their IT team's ability to deliver basic services has declined. This data is drawn from a study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value, which surveyed 2,500 C-level technology execs across 34 countries and 26 industries during the first calendar quarter of 2024.

👆🏻Hot take: I couldn’t help but take this as a gentle warning to all companies. Yes, AI is interesting and potentially has good use cases…. but that doesn’t mean you should take your eye off the rest of your software stack and how that is working for your business.

Scoop: What former employees of OpenAI are worried about

In an upcoming blog, sharp, insightful and heartfelt, Saunders goes into considerably more detail. There, he proposes 9 “high risk decision principles”; the first is “Seek as broad and legitimate authority for your decisions as is possible under the circumstances”, the second “Don’t take actions which impose significant risks to others without overwhelming evidence of net benefit”, number seven, which he described as a metaprinciple, is “Don’t give power to people or structures that can’t be held accountable“

👆🏻Hot take: good to get some genuine insight from someone who has actually worked at OpenAI (and evidently ignored the NDAs that were no doubt signed). This is a pragmatic take though, which is a rarity in the AI space.

The Controversial SB-1047 AI Bill Has Silicon Valley on High Alert

The main argument against this kind of sweeping regulation is that neither AI nor any other technology should be regulated so strongly at the technical level. Instead, governments should regulate how technology is applied. Developers should be free from the burden of downstream misuse by ill-intended actors and the burden of complying with the additional grudge of monitorization and extensive reporting.

👆🏻Hot take: what caught my eye about this was actually how Congress has been dismissed as unlikely to ever sort out regulation on AI, such that states are taking the matter into their own hands. Curious to see how this one unfolds…

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Looking for something else to read? Here you go:

Stars Getting Rich Off Fan Conventions: How to Take Home "Garbage Bags Full of $20s"

One effect of superhero culture: a proliferation of fan events where Marvel movie heroes and 'Walking Dead' stars walk away with six figures (more than most get paid for their real jobs) for a weekend's work.

👆🏻Hot take: I’ve often wondered how much celebs make from these ComicCon-style events, and now we know - so much, it seems, that some prefer them to doing more acting work.

Record labels forgot these songs existed. One man rescued them

By day, he's a 41-year-old working in business development for a London law firm. By night, he’s a music industry crusader – digging up obscure gems and persuading record labels to make them available online.

👆🏻Hot take: I think if this article illustrates anything, it is just how much catalogue the majors (and others) are sitting on, and therefore how it easy it is for large volumes of work to simply slip by unnnoticed in terms of its presence on DSPs.

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