Independent Artists vs Label Artists

The age old question of whether signing to a label or going independent in the industry is better. Today were going to compare the two and see how they stack up, along with great examples of those who may have gone both ways, whether its from independent to label or label to independent. Here is where we will answer the question; “Should you sign to a label?”

Lets start with the signed artist. Many artists strive to get signed to a label and make it big. The overall belief and desire of a label is to receive a large advance to splurge on or use toward your music as they fund you. This is a major pro as having a large financial backing can elevate any artist extremely far. More pro’s to mention is the fact that a label will handle nearly all forms of advertising, and marketing, getting you access to the best technology possible to guarantee quality. They are basically marketing you as a consumable product for the masses, which means you have value to them, which is great, until we get to some of the cons.

Labels in the last 10 years have begun to become obsolete and have gained a very bad rep of “trapping” their artists, including denying releases of singles or albums without reasoning. This is because they essentially OWN the rights to the music you make under them, and they can judge if they release it or not. While your signed as well, you don’t own the masters to the songs or albums you make and its unlikely you’ll be able to buy them back. The last and possibly biggest con is the potential debt you have to pay back while your signed based off the advance you get from your label, as most underground artists receive anything from 5K to 100K and artists with exposure able to get over a million. Not only are you expect to make that money back, but they may increase your debt based off how you spend your money. Overall an extreme downside for being signed.

Now that we’ve covered labels, lets move over to a quick bit about independent artists, which I guess is what most people who will read this are. Now as an independent artist the most obvious cons are that you have to work much harder to achieve a large audience and spend a lot of money to reach said audiences. Top of that, all the marketing you have to do is within yourself and that can be taxing on anyone’s finances, especially from a long term aspect.

But while those cons are extremely present, the best thing about being independent is that you are essentially your own boss. You control when you drop music and you own the masters (most likely) to your music. You make all the money that comes to you and you most likely don’t have to do any form of splits unless your doing features. Another pro that I feel is massively overlooked is the fact that you have a much wider range of unique artists to collaborate with, without having to be controlled by a label on what to do. Last but not least, you own your masters, which can bring you a lot of money IF someone wants those masters.

Now where do we stand on this? Well here at Sonus Magazine we feel that signing to a label for a certain period of time and gaining their exposure is a great way to get big before trying to go off on your own. But something you could do if you are confident enough is actually creating a sub-label under them, similar to what Travis Scott did with “Cactus Jack”. This was a big step to signing artists that were unique and would gain exposure while making bank. Obviously this is similar to a big step kind of thing though, when your well established.

So what do you believe an artist should do? Leave a comment!