In January this year, a non-profit organization representing independent music labels, called Merlin, issued an open invitation for independent music labels to join them so as to create the fifth largest record label after bigwigs like EMI, Warner Music etc.
This is so that they can have better bargaining power at negotiation tables with online music stores like iTunes. In the past, it can be a hassle for online music stores to carry indie music labels’ records as they have to deal with the countless labels individually, creating a large overhead on costs.
Merlin, hopes that by teaming up, they’d be able to sign more deals, on behalf of the thousands of independently owned music labels, with big distributors so that their music can be distributed online and compete on equal ground with the major labels.
Ars.Technica writes that Merlin has already gotten 12,000 labels on board.
From Merlin Network:
Merlin exists because the independents need their own body to ensure their interests are properly represented by an organisation focused wholly on their sector. Independents work in a incredibly competitive environment, ruled by shrinking physical sales, a digital market that is not replacing the fall in revenues, and where independent’s ability to compete is being eroded by the major corporations that dominate the market, from both the supply and retail side.
Merlin is not an aggregator or distributor. Its remit is to represent its members in new media deals that can’t be easily negotiated locally or individually or are not covered adequately by existing arrangements.
Merlin also does not operate in the space occupied by Collecting Societies, rather Merlin aims to address the gap between what these societies are able to offer their members and what labels and aggregators can achieve individually.
Merlin is a stand-alone body and a sister organisation
to the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
Not only that, it looks like grassroot activities for independent music labels have been increasing, with the latest one (at least to me) being Slicethepie.com. In the past, musicians have to struggle to raise funds so that they can send their music for recording. With the power of the internet, Slicethepie helps bring the struggle online to a wider audience.
At Slicethepie, artists basically upload demos of their music onto the website and readers of the site basically rate each track. The top 20 rated artists will then move onto a section of the site called Showcase, where fans can help to finance these artists by buying “Backstage Passes”. These “Passes” can then be used to claim a free copy of the album when its recorded.
The cool thing about the site is that, it seems to introduce social lending into the concept of supporting independent artists. Fans can also buy “Contracts” from artists which will entitle them to returns based on the number of singles and albums sold by the artists in a 2 year period.
So if you’re a local artist, why not give it a shot, who knows your bedroom music could just be the next international sensation. I hope as technology grows, the Davids in the music industry will finally be able to take down the Goliaths.
