Indie Music

On Aug. 1, Adelaide’s Queens Theatre became the epicentre of Australia’s independent music scene as the 2024 AIR Awards celebrated the artists reshaping the industry.

Hosted by Dylan Lewis and Jessica Braithwaite, the evening was punctuated by stellar performances from nominees including Maple Glider, Jack River, Bumpy, Slava Grigoryan, and RVG.

Reach Records, founded by Grammy-winning Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae, stands as a testament to the power of vision, resilience, and community.

he Americana Music Association has announced its performers for the 23rd annual Americana Honors and Awards in Nashville on September 18 at the famed Ryman Auditorium.

This year’s ceremony will deliver performances from award-winning legends, buzzworthy new artists, and longtime fan favorites including Blind Boys of Alabama, Brandy Clark with SistaStrings, Charles Wesley Godwin, Dave Alvin, Dwight Yoakam, Fantastic Negrito, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Jobi Riccio, Kaitlin Butts, Larkin Poe, The Milk Carton Kids, Noah Kahan, Sarah Jarosz, Shelby Lynne, Sierra Ferrell, Turnpike Troubadours, The War And Treaty, Waxahatchee with MJ Lenderman, and Wyatt Flores.

In addition to the annual “Of the Year” awards presented during the program (view the nominees below), the 2024 Honors & Awards include this year’s Lifetime Achievement Honorees: Blind Boys of Alabama, Dave Alvin, Don Was, Dwight Yoakam, Rev. Gary Davis, and Shelby Lynne.

Four-time Grammy winner Will Smith is among the artists on Slang, a new label launched by music-rights and entertainment company Influence Media and led by Rene McLean, its partner and founding advisor. The new label’s roster also includes Grammy-winning producers Camper (Jay-Z, Drake, Mary J Blige) and 30 Roc (Roddy Rich, Travis Scott, Lil Yachty), along with singer-rapper Leaf, hip-hop duo the Underachievers, and singer-songwriter Isaia Huron, among others. 

Label to celebrate 30th anniversary with exhibit and performances by Illuminati Hotties, Waterparks' Awsten Knight, the Wonder Years' Dan Campbell, and more

It all began when Mac McCaughan, a young musician who had moved to Durham as a teenager and spent his college years between Colombia University and Chapel Hill, started a band called Chunk with his then-girlfriend, bassist Laura Ballance. The band became Superchunk, which lit the fuse for Merge Records. That was 35 years ago, and today, Merge is easily one of the country’s most influential independent music labels. At a time when DIY meant doing it yourself without the internet, streaming platforms, social media and modern recording technology, the term “indie” carried a more punk-like ethos and hadn’t yet been fabricated and co-opted going the way of “grunge.”

In the 1980s, North Carolina became known as a breeding ground for music. The “jangle pop” sound, popular on college radio, was dominated by bands like The dB’s, led by Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey from Winston-Salem. Around the same time, producer Mitch Easter worked on records for renowned “alternative” groups such as R.E.M. and Pavement. By the early 1990s, Chapel Hill and the surrounding area were seen as “the next Seattle,” with McCaughan and Merge Records evolving from making cassettes to signing a growing number of artists.

Downtown-owned distributor Fuga has signed One House, Critical Music and British-Nigerian Afrobeats star Maleek Berry’s imprint, Berry’s Room. 

One House is home to platinum-selling DJ and producer, Eliza Rose, as well as Pretty Girl (pictured), Yung Singh and Kevin Saunderson.

It will utilise Fuga’s global distribution and marketing services in a wide-ranging partnership that includes physical distribution, sync, YouTube channel management and access to the company’s trends and analytics platform. 

The Orchard launched a new series named In Collaboration. This series explores the relationship between artistic unity within Black culture to craft a work of art. Themes such as trust building, vulnerability and energy exchange are on display, and attest to the abundance and diversity within creative spaces. Explore the minds of these duos and gain insight into how collaboration fuels the evolution of artistic expression.

Major Australian independent music and entertainment company Mushroom Group has launched a new talent management and partnership agency, Mushroom Connect.

According to Australian media and marketing website, Mumbrella, the new agency was founded by Mushroom Group chief executive Matt Gudinski and Mushroom Connect director Kirsty Kassabis. 

Mushroom Connect will provide specialist artist management services, influencer marketing, and artist representation for digital brand collaborations. The team’s portfolio already includes partnerships with blue chip companies such as Disney, Google, Netflix, Maybelline, Paramount, Amazon, McDonalds and more. 

On the latest Music Business Worldwide podcast, MBW founder Tim Ingham is joined by Emmanuel Zunz, founder of ONErpm, one of the music industry’s most interesting companies and something of a quiet giant.

When it was founded in 2010, ONErpm quickly gained ground in Brazil, where, to this day, it challenges the major record companies for market share.

Since finding success in Brazil, ONErpm has grown all over the planet, offering a range of partnerships to artists, from low-margin DIY distribution all the way up to higher-margin full-service deals.

Lawrence Rothman has been knocking around the music scene for two decades, but not until this year would anyone have likely pegged them as primarily an Americana artist. The L.A.-based performer didn’t necessarily come off as someone begging to set up a secondary base in Nashville — not with a list of collaborators or production clients that included Kim Gordon, Courtney Love, Girl in Red, Empress Of, Alison Mosshart and members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Guns N’ Roses. Or a career in soundtracks that included scoring movies by film-director spouse Floria Sigismondi like “The Runaways” and “The Turning.” Or a solo career as an indie rocker with an androgynous bent that incorporated taking on multiple personas, male and female.

From July 31st to August 2nd, the Mercury Cinema will be transformed into a hub for all things indie, with a killer lineup of local and international speakers ready to dish the dirt on the ever-evolving music industry.

Industry heavyweights like Lisa Hrseko, boss of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and Ellie Rumbold, who heads up international operations at the legendary Partisan Records (think Idles, Fontaines D.C.), will join music biz movers and shakers from Asia, Europe, and New Zealand, ready to share their knowledge and experiences with the Aussie music scene.

Jack White has announced the official release of his surprise-dropped new album, “No Name,” which was briefly for sale in limited quantities in his Third Man Record stores earlier this month, in a plain white sleeve with no information beyond the title.  

The official version will drop Friday (Aug. 2), with a blue vinyl edition will be available in Third Man Records retail stores on Thursday, and in select independent record stores across the world the following day. It will also be available on black vinyl via the Third Man and Jack White websites.

Doodles, the entertainment company that counts Pharrell Williams as chief branding officer, has announced the formation of Doodles Records in partnership with Sony’s Orchard to release its first project, the “Dullsville and the Doodleverse” soundtrack.

Doodles Records is commemorating its launch with the release of its first EP, a three-song original soundtrack for “Dullsville and the Doodleverse,” a short film with the same name debuting later this year. The EP will include Coi Leray and Pharrell’s “Not in the Store,” releasing in early August; Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty and Kyle Richh’s “Can’t Hold Me Down” in late August; and Swae Lee, Lil Yachty and Pharrell’s “Doodleverse (Draw Me Closer)” in September.

Proper Group (formerly Utopia Music) has officially been ordered to pay north of $1.86 million in connection with the 2021 buyout of advance provider Lyric Financial.
That order just recently came out of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, nearly three years after Utopia Music (the rebrand to Proper Group only occurred earlier in 2024) unveiled an agreement to acquire Lyric.

New York is filled to the brim with record labels, but Trash Casual’s lack of fear and definition sends them to reach new heights with every new release. Filled with a management team that includes many artists who are a part of the Brooklyn-based label, music is always at the forefront for Trash Casual.

Trash Casual are not afraid to have a multitude of different artists from different genres, stating, “Trash Casual aims to transform not only the creative but also the communal spirit of the music industry”. I will showcase only a fraction of the talented artists featured at Trash Casual, spanning all kinds of sounds and personalities. 

Jack White surprise-dropped a new album on Friday, but you can’t stream it on the usual services. ‘No Name’ was released as a vinyl LP, but the only way (so far) fans can get it is by visiting one of the record stores belonging to his Third Man Records business and buying something else. On Friday, staff were slipping the blank-cover LP into people’s bags alongside other purchases.

It appears to have been a one-day-only release, although Consequence reported that Third Man’s official Instagram profile published a story that night encouraging fans to ‘Rip It’. The Jack White subreddit has duly done so and made the album available as downloads from a Google Drive (see ‘rule 3’ on its frontpage) with a mod promising that “if anyone at Third Man Records hates rule 3, please let me know, I’ll delete it”.

Jack White has never been a musician who was particularly concerned about the conventions of the music industry. Throughout his career, the Detroit garage rocker has done things by his own rules, constantly finding new ways to inject excitement and originality into his output. It was only a matter of time before White formed his own independent label, Third Man Records. 

Since first being established in 2001, Third Man has been the sole proprietor of Jack White’s musical material, in addition to putting out incredible releases from a plethora of other artists too. Owning his own label allows White to, essentially, do whatever he wants, as has been signified by his most recent stunt; releasing a secret album entirely through his Third Man Records stores.

The Warehouse Project has announced the launch of its flagship record label, WHP Records, in partnership with independent imprint Disorder.

This new club-focused label has already enlisted Leeds-based artist Bakey on the release of his debut album. The WHP resident’s lead single, ‘Wouldn’t Believe’, is out today (July 19), with more details on the album still to be announced. Check it out below.

14 of the world’s top independent labels have co-founded a think tank called ORCA, which will publish research on the economic, social and cultural impact of music.

ORCA – or the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts to give its full name – launches today as a partnership between the labels and nonprofit organisation the Center for Music Ecosystems.

ORCA isn’t an independent trade body: there’s already WIN for that globally, as well as Impala in Europe and the various local organisations. WIN and US body A2IM have provided endorsements for today’s launch.

A2IM (The American Association of Independent Music, Inc), the not-for-profit trade organization representing over 600 independent record labels, has today announced its 2024 Board of Directors, as well as its new Executive Committee and Advisory Board Members.

Leading this year’s newly elected board members are Steven Hill, Head of North American & Global Marketing at Warp Records, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, and Louis Posen, Founder & President of Hopeless Records. The returning Board Members include Tony Alexander, Co-Founder and President of Made in Memphis Entertainment, Nabil Ayers, President of Beggars Group, Dee Diaz, SVP Marketing & Digital at Reach Records, Wilson Fuller of Merge Records, Mary Jurey, Chief Business Officer at Blue Elan Records, Tony Kiewel, President of Sub Pop Records, Hays Rudolph, General Counsel and VP of Business and Legal Affairs at Secretly Group, and Zena White, COO of Partisan Records.

Merlin, a digital music licensing and membership organization for independent labels, distributors, and other rightsholders, has appointed Neil Miller as its new General Counsel.

Miller brings a wealth of experience in the music industry, joining Merlin from international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, where he advised major technology, gaming, social media, and digital entertainment companies on music rights and licensing.

Prior to that, he led the international music licensing legal team as Director & Associate General Counsel for Meta, and served as SVP & General Counsel for six years at SoundCloud. Miller also held leadership roles at CBS Interactive and Viacom/MTV, among others.