Indie Music

The Weidenmüller Sustainability Fund is named for late !K7 founder Horst Weidenmüller, a sustainability leader in the indie sector.

After five years, Victory Pool has fully come into its own.

Formed just before the pandemic, the Toronto-based label launched its first release (Marlaena Moore's Pay Attention, Be Amazed!) just as lockdowns began in 2020. Even as the industry ground to a halt around them, the label thrived — and now, five years later, and with JUNO and Polaris nominations under its belt, Victory Pool is continuing to build momentum.

Drew Hill has announced that Proper Music Distribution will be acquired by Artone, the Dutch physical music specialists, in a triumph for the future of independent physical music in the UK

Riot grrrl eccentric HARU NEMURI has announced her shift to independence, establishing her own self-managed label, ekkolaptόmenos. The news was shared during her free solo performance, ‘Hitoride Nererumon! vol.9’, held at KICHIJOJI SHUFFLE in Tokyo on January 10th, which also happened to be her birthday.

Several more players in the independent music community have called on regulators to block the acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Universal Music Group (UMG) announced this week, arguing the deal “would seriously distort the global music market” and “reduce competition and the independents’ bargaining power.”

Virgin Music Group, which is owned by UMG, announced Monday (Dec. 16) that it had agreed to buy Downtown Music Holdings for $775 million in a deal that would beef up the music giant’s market share by absorbing Downtown’s stable of indie distributors, publishing and rights administrators including FUGA, CB Baby, AdRev and Songtrust. The deal came just two months after UMG acquired the remaining shares of indie label group [PIAS], including its services division, Integral — an agreement that was similarly criticized by indie trade groups, who have asked regulators to launch an investigation into the pact.

Following the announcement that UMG-owned Virgin Group has struck a deal to buy Downtown, the European independent trade association IMPALA raises concerns about concentration and reducing independent routes to market. The move is hot on the heels of UMG acquiring control of [PIAS], another significant independent in both recording and distribution, again raising serious competition issues.

Helen Smith, Executive Chair IMPALA, commented: “This is another land grab. We expect competition authorities in key jurisdictions to carry out thorough investigations and block these deals. The time has come for cutting UMG’s market position back to what was already set. This is a huge market share grab by UMG and seriously reduces independent routes to the market. We look to the new European Commission to set the standard internationally.”

Presented as collaborative, the move is part of a clear commercial strategy to target independent distribution to gain market share and control. Having already bought [PIAS], this is now the digital equivalent, accounting for a significant portion of the independent sector’s delivery to digital services.

Martin Mills, founder of Beggars Group added: “The cynical use of the Virgin brand, once synonymous with independent entrepreneurship, should not hide the fact that this is about utter dominance and control. Paradoxically UMG’s artist centric stance means it has already disenfranchised millions of artists whose rights they are now acquiring. This is another step on the road of UMG’s pretence to be the independents fairy godmother. But there’s a wolf under that cape.”

David Glasebrook produces music for Royal Oakie Records, the independent label he started 12 years ago. “There’s a million ways to make a record, and they’re all worth trying,” he said, speaking from his Garden Shed Studio in Oakland. He runs the operation with the help of a small, dedicated team. He also frequently produces albums for freelance clients.

“Often sessions will start with the full band doing what we call ‘basic tracking,’ where you capture either all of the band, or at least the rhythm section, playing live,” Glasebrook said. “Then there’s the overdub sessions, where you layer lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, strings and other instruments that are best recorded in isolation, one at a time.

 Sun Label Group, home to the iconic Sun Records alongside Gaither Music Group, Green Hill Productions, and emeraldwave by Green Hill, has announced a series of promotions and new hires.

Promotions

Chad Smith has been elevated to Senior Creative Director, where he will oversee all creative output for the group, including packaging, lyric videos, visualizers, and other visual assets across the labels.
Bryce Egan has been promoted to Marketing Manager, taking on the day-to-day marketing responsibilities for Sun Records, Green Hill Productions, and emeraldwave by Green Hill.
Olivia DeMasters has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Manager of Catalog Development, focusing on uncovering new opportunities for the group’s existing catalog.
Hayley Tolley has been promoted to Social Media and Marketing Manager for Gaither Music Group.

New Hires

Mary Clark Webb joins as Social Media and Community Coordinator for Green Hill Productions.
Jeremy Maier has been hired as Digital Streaming Coordinator for Green Hill Productions.
Maggie Hairston becomes Marketing Coordinator for Gaither Music Group.

UK indies organisation AIM held its annual general meeting yesterday, with news including interim CEO Gee Davy [pictured, right] shedding her interim status to be appointed as permanent boss of the body. AIM chair Ruth Barlow [pictured, left] hailed Davy’s “outstanding leadership under enormous pressure” over the last eight months, before going into more detail on what some of those pressures are.

“I think it is fair to say we find ourselves in complicated times. We’re witnessing a vast mission creep by the majors, whose market share, year by year is diminishing – prompting them to seek control and influence over the market and the very businesses that offer artists an alternative,” said Barlow. “True independence remains a vital counterbalance to the consolidation of power that major corporations wield. It’s never been more important for the independent community to stand together for integrity and values that genuinely support and respect artists and rightsholders.”

A2IM (The American Association of Independent Music, Inc.) has announced a new partnership with beatBread.

The partnership will bring leverage and flexibility to A2IM members with beatBread’s transparent, data-driven funding solutions. beatBread offers a variety of funding options to enable artist or catalog acquisition, new release funding, and support for general operations and growth. Additional information is available here.

Additionally, this partnership delivers exclusive benefits to members – including free distribution via Too Lost, free OpenPlay subscription, and discretionary A&R funds on top of any advance taken (up to 20% of the advanced amount).

Independent music company Anthem Entertainment and Canadian independent label Wax Records have unveiled a creative partnership aimed at revolutionizing the artist development process. The collaboration, formed in response to today’s evolving music landscape, will work to streamline the music-making process by providing songwriters and producers with resources such as an in-house studio, dedicated writing rooms, international song camps and more.

Wax Records brings over 20 years of industry experience with partners such as Virgin Music, Universal Music, Sony ATV and a roster consisting of artists like Alyssa Reid, Shawn Desman and Virginia to Vegas. Anthem Entertainment offers the talents of hit songwriters such as Chantal Kreviazuk and Timbaland as well as a large catalog of songs, creative teams and studio spaces. By enhancing the relationship between publishing and creative, they hope to offer artists a global experience with both publishing opportunities and label services.

As the Universal Music Group gobbles up independent stalwart PIAS, music biz expert Eamonn Forde asks if this corporate greed suggests bleak times are ahead for the rest of the indie ecosystem

A2IM Board of Directors’ terms run for three years. Each board seat is term limited to one, full three-year term. Any board member, and member company, serving a full three-year term must sit out one year at the conclusion of their term before being eligible to run for election again.

Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman and Jessica Pratt lead the nominees for the 2025 Libera Awards, presented by Merlin and announced today by the Foundation for Independent Music and the American Association of Independent Music. This 14th annual awards ceremony, which features 28 categories honoring the best in independent music, will take place on Monday, June 9 at Gotham Hall in New York City. Tickets on sale here.

Indie label trade groups have again aired their concerns about Universal Music’s market dominance in the wake of yet another acquisition by the major. They add that Universal uses that dominance to force streaming services to change their payment policies in a way that disadvantages many indies

As part of its succession planning, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has initiated a search for a new leader to head the organization, which represents more than 750 member companies across the U.S.

Founded in 2005 in response to the digital transformation of the music industry, A2IM aims to promote economic fairness and market equality, while serving as an advocacy platform for the diverse and unified independent sector.

Under the leadership of Dr. Richard James Burgess, A2IM has experienced significant growth over the past 20 years, reaching numerous key milestones that have strengthened its role as a leading advocate for the independent music sector. Burgess recently announced that he is stepping down as President and CEO of the organization in 2026.

While indie is now an umbrella term for an entire genre and can be used as a prefix or suffix for any manner of word that describes a moment in culture – indie-sleaze and landfill-indie being my favourites – it’s actually meant to signify whether or not a record is independent. An independent record can be defined as something released without the structure, funding, or control of a majorly owned label.

A message from our CEO, Jorge Brea:
Dear Symphonic Family,

As 2024 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on a year shaped by both challenges and triumphs. In these moments, the strength of our beloved community of music lovers, creatives, industry veterans, and everyone in between has never been more evident. Together, we’ve shown that resilience isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about rising higher, growing bolder, and shaping a brighter future through every twist and turn.

The independent music sector has called on competition regulators to investigate and block Universal’s Downtown Music deal, which is a “huge market share” grab according to IMPALA’s Helen Smith and part of the major’s bid for “utter dominance and control” according to Beggars boss Martin Mills

The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) has announced the results of elections for its Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York Chapters.

Independent artists and labels had a 46.7% share of the global recorded music business in 2023, according to a new MIDiA Research report — 11 points higher than their U.S. share.

Music-streaming service Audiomack has reached a new milestone: 10 million active users globally. It was revealed in a LinkedIn post by founder Dave Macli, although he gave few further details.

“On Friday last week audiomack had 10 million active users. It wasn’t too long ago that we were reaching for 1 million,” he wrote. “Thank you to everyone who played a part in this amazing growth.”