Indie labels sales are surpassing the majors

A couple of weeks ago BusinessWeek published an interesting article saying how independent labels Sub Pop, Merge and Matador are selling more records than majors.

Sub Pop recently got 3 gold records (the Postal Service and the Shins obtained two of them), increased its revenues by 79% and sold more records in 2007 than in any other year ever.

So, what makes indie successful in a time where music sales are down of 11%?


First of all, there has been an increase of licensing demand for not mainstream music. The Shins, for example provided songs for McDonald, Gap, and Microsoft ads. Advertisers say:

"I don't have to get the Beatles to have a successful commercial, and indie bands come cheaper, to boot"


Other factors include less expenses, reduced staff, and stronger relationships with audience and artists.