Unless you've been hiding in a soundproof music free cave for the last 10 years, you are familiar with Independent Musicians, or more commonly, "Indie Artists." Years ago the term was used to describe the type of singer/songwriter you found in coffee shops and street corners. Busking musicians with a gritty, unrefined sound that played for tips or barely above. Now, independent artists seemingly run the music world. You can't open a music blog on social media without being hit by some "Indie artist" that are making "big waves" and "creating a buzz" in the music biz. When you read the article you probably think to yourself, "wow that's amazing look how much that unknown person's talent has done for them, so good that after one YouTube video they are an overnight sensation." Sometimes that's actually the case, a musician posts a song, it goes viral, and bam overnight success. More often than not it's years of hard work and in the past, the goal was usually a record deal, but now, you really can have success as an independent artist, even without overnight fame.
Pretty cool right? Making your own rules and making it on your all your own. Being independent means you don't have to work under the constraints of a label or investor, and you can just "focus on the music," super cool you get to just play music for a living, and it is. But, what if I were to tell you that truly independent artists work so hard at the business of music that often the last thing they usually get to focus on is the actual music part of being a musician. Are you shocked? If you're a business owner you might not be, but if you're a music lover you might be. When you go to a live show or listen to your favorite local artist's album, you might never consider all of the work that went into making that album or putting on that live show. I'm sure you've put some thought into how much practice went into learning the songs or how long writing a song might have taken, but have you considered how that a musician that isn't signed to a label or backed by an investor gets their music to you all by themselves? Whether you have or you haven't that's the definition of a truly independent artist, or at least my definition, a musician that does IT ALL BY THEMSELVES; no label, no manager, just themselves, sheer talent and determination. (Note, themselves could be a solo artist, duo, trio, 9 piece band, but still doing it without an outside monetary or management team, aside from the occasional sponsor that might help with some merch or incidentals.)
The artist that has a small, "indie" label backing them? Not a truly independent artist. The artist that has an investor, not a truly independent artist. The artist that works a full-time job while playing 10-20 shows a month and spending every extra penny on studio time or home studio software/equipment, paying for musicians, gear, mixing, mastering, promotion, website, advertising, etc..., that artist is truly independent. That artist is doing it all on their own because regardless of their situation they believe in their music so much they are willing to do anything to create it, perform it, record it, and share it with the listener.
We are completely independent artists. We work other jobs to pay for the things playing shows won't pay for. We cover the costs of putting an album out from our own pockets. We pay for the instruments, merch, advertising, the band, we book our own gigs, and we spend most of our free time putting the hours into the business side of the music business so that we can get our music to you. We are passionate about our music and believe that the listener will be too, so until we don't have to do it on our own, we believe in what we're doing so much (just like so many other independent artists) that we are going to do it ourselves until maybe one do we don't have to anymore. Even though you might not realize it, independent artists, like ourselves are doing the work of a record label, management, PR, etc... to bring you our singles, EP's, albums and live shows.
Now that you know a little more about what a truly independent artist is you might better understand how important your support is to keep the musicians you love playing. So buy the album, buy the t-shirts, attend the show, share the show, add to the tip jar, follow on Spotify or Pandora, etc...and share, share, share every video and song. As independent as all "indie" musicians are, it still takes a village, so become the mayor of your favorite musician's village and keep the music alive!
