So many artists are signed to different labels, but they are extremely popular. How does a label work and why would an artist even want to sign to one since labels typically get a percent of money. Also, I thought independent or indie artists were not signed to a label but if you go to Spotify and look up indie music half of them are signed to a label.
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Without a record label the chances of your music reaching a wide audience is significantly lower, and even if it did most people wouldn’t want to listen to stuff recorded through a 4 track.
I love at-home recordings personally, but it’s just not something the general public has been or probably will ever be interested in.
Lots of bad takes so far, based on information that has been out-of-date for years, if not decades.
A record label is a business that monetizes music. That’s it. That’s your definition.
Right now, in 2022, there are dozens of reasonable approaches to monetizing music, and there are dozens of reasons why a particular artist might want to sign with a particular label. There are also plenty of artists who see no need for a label at all.
The key question for an artist is “What can this label do for me that I can’t or won’t do for myself?” The key question for a label is “Do the skillsets of this artist fit with our approach to the business?”
If both parties answer those questions honestly, there is a decent chance of finding a good fit. If one or both parties are uneducated, dishonest, confused, or predatory, there’s a decent chance that things won’t end up going well.
None of this is any different from any other type of business, except that back in the 20th century, the power balance was tilted dramatically in favor of the labels. Clueless, desperate musicians were everywhere, and predatory labels with a stranglehold on distribution and marketing would gleefully take advantage of them, giving the industry a well-deserved bad reputation.
These days, you have to be pretty damn stupid to let a label take advantage of you, and predatory labels are fast-disappearing. If anything, it’s talentless “artists” who can bilk the labels, getting six-figure advances for a 25-second TikTok clip with nothing else to back it up.
tl;dr: Learn how to play the music game, and you’ll be fine.
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