Last week, two of the five major record labels, Sony and BMG, announced plans to merge. And it’s likely that EMI and Warner will follow suit, leaving three big majors, each responsible for about 25 per cent of the music we “consume”. The remaining quarter is produced by the independent sector. So how do the people in charge of indie labels see the future of their business, and how will it affect the music we listen to?
“I think we’ll mutate into a new type of company – a mixture of artist management, publisher, marketing consultant, agent and promoter,” reckons Steve Beckett of Warp Records. “We’ll be a company representing artists’ ‘careers’, in whatever way they want to be represented.”
Wall Of Sound’s Marc Jones agrees that with the advent of digital technology the days of the traditional label are numbered. “We’re a communications company and that’s what we’re becoming more and more everyday. I don’t think the model for a traditional record label will exist in this environment anymore. To survive as an independent label we’re going to have to change.” [more @ www.bbc.co.uk]