The 411 Magazine The 411 Magazine issue 4 July/Aug 2017 | Page 31

FEATURE
IS
Independent
BEST?
By Melissa-Ellesse Assibey
I
ndependent artists such
as Skepta, Stormzy Frank Ocean
and Chance the Rapper are shaking
up the music industry and they have done
it their own way. Last year Mercury Prize winner
Skepta released his award winning album Konichiwa and
Frank Ocean’s Blonde went number 1 worldwide. Both are
independent artists and both albums were released and recorded
without the support and finances of a major label. Are major record
labels relevant anymore?
It used to be that being signed to a major label for an artist meant you
had made it, only to be met with the pressure of producing commercial
sounding music, delayed albums and underhand contracts. Artists are at risk
of being influenced by record label decisions when it comes to their music and
their music style is in turn watered down to make it sell-able or relatable to a
wider audience. This has been a problem in urban genres such as hip hop, RnB
and UK genre grime, however music platforms such as Link Up, Grime Daily and
SBTV are telling us it doesn’t have to be and can be both relatable and sell-able as
it is.
Independent artists are creating new ways to put music out to the fans using social
media. Websites like YouTube are great ways to target audiences, to release new
music and music videos without asking a record label to release a song and without
spending tons of money on a project. The artists are getting just as many, if not more,
hits than an artist on a major record label.
It seems like the major labels are clueless on how to make a hit in today’s music
climate and independent artists are killing the game. Many music services such as
SoundCloud are instrumental in the success of independent artists. Chance the Rapper,
put his breakout mixtape, Acid Raps, on SoundCloud, it was never meant to be released
but was so successful that a bootleg version managed to chart on Billboard. Chance was
approached by many presidents and CEO’s of major label companies but turned them
all down.
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