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Independents Day 08 is a worldwide event, taking place on the weekend of 4th July to raise money for the independent music community and their chosen charities.

Starting in New Zealand and ending in the US, activities include the largest ever auction of independent music memorabilia (via eBay) and limited edition albums featuring the cream of independent talent from all over the globe, all supported by a comprehensive retail campaign and a series of one-off music shows and retrospectives across TV and radio.

The History of Independent Music

Independents Day by Ira Robbins

Many of the world’s
nations mark the day of their independence, a concept bound up with
freedom and self-determination. For the United States, independence
promised its citizens life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Though it has rarely
required war, diplomacy or intercession by the UN to achieve,
independence in the music business offers the same benefits. For more
than half a century, independent record labels have risen up, not in
opposition to the dwindling population of global music companies but in
crucial complement to them. Any genre of music you can name would be
much poorer and less adventurous if not for the vision and courage of
labels unafraid to back artists who want more than to ape last month’s
hits.

Elvis Presley didn’t make
an appointment and wait in the reception area of RCA Records until
someone there recognized what he had to offer, he marched into Memphis
Recording Service, a storefront operation where Sun Records’ Sam
Phillips heard something he could work with. The first label in America
willing to take a chance on the Beatles – who were signed to a British
powerhouse, EMI, but unknown in the States – was Vee-Jay, a
family-owned label in Chicago, where another family business played
home to Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. Each of these artists
– plus hundreds more, from James Brown to Nirvana, Run-D.M.C. to the
Smiths, Alison Krauss and Arctic Monkeys — changed the sound of music,
and none of them were first spotted by a major label. That’s a lot for
the independent label world to be proud of.

And why not? Other than
the few that were set up as divisions of existing entertainment
companies, most labels, including many of those now considered majors,
started out small, as the bright idea of someone with ears, a few bucks
to invest, maybe a record store for a base of operations, or maybe a
car for distribution. Atlantic, Motown, Def Jam, Island, Rough Trade,
Rhino, Elektra, Merge, Beggars Banquet, A&M, Mercury, Virgin – all
of them were or are independent labels. It’s always been more about a
concept than corporate structure, about the willingness to explore and
innovate, to drive the culture forward and not just churn out mass
entertainment in the wake of established taste.

In the 21st century, as
the means of distribution shifts, independent labels are increasingly
the source of new artists. The album sales and download charts are
packed with names first promoted by independent labels. Even
established artists, from Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails to Garth
Brooks, have found that major labels don’t serve their needs, and have
gone the DIY route, which takes independence to the max.

Ultimately, it doesn’t
matter if a record company is big or little, old and established or
young and unsteady: a board of directors, layers of management
answering to an overseas CEO who in turn is beholden to stockholders is
never going to have the ears of young people in direct contact with the
music and artists, putting out records they love regardless of profit
margins and quarterly sales projections. And independent labels have
blazed the way not just in the sound of music, but in ways of
partnering with bands and serving their fans.

The result, happily, has
been a steady flow of music delivered just the way the artists create
it, free of homogenization and compromise. In the music world, everyone
benefits from independence. Long may it wave.

Ira Robbins, Founder - Trouser Press.com