And Hunter’s conclusive sentiment:

I don’t care if you work at an indie label, a major, or private equity, you’re either working for culture or against it

If your focus is expressing yourself, you’re an independent

If you’re extracting, you’re not an independent

If you’re holding back culture, you’re not an independent

If your focus is the bottom line, you’re not an independent

My substack: dariusjagjag.substack.com

I hope you stay awhile, or at least until the sun rises.

If any of this resonates with you, please show your support by finding new music by new artists and learning how to support them.

Or subscribe to @stereogum.com or other indie publishers. We need human writers now more than ever.

…is mainstream culture—being neatly packaged and presented to us via vast technology platforms powered by algos and AI and reflecting the influence of market concentration in the culture industries—on the verge of irreversibly shaping who we are as individuals and as a society?

For independents, there is an existential set of questions that relates to control.
Are individuals, including music creators and the companies that support them, notably independent record labels, still able to contribute to the shape of mainstream culture? Or…

We need to safeguard not just our own independence but also the independence of all market participants, while proactively working to restore balance to our music ecosystem, as inaction at this critical time is the same as acquiescence.

When we think about the value of our business, it’s not just tied to profits or revenues. Rather, it’s also the extent to which we can positively impact culture, support talent, and co-exist collaboratively & equitably with other stakeholders, including artists & label employees.

While independents like us need to collaborate with our competitors (even the majors) to help assure sustainable market conditions for everyone, we also need to do everything we can to protect the art, by vigorously defending the independent routes to market that already exist.

A free market can only be considered free as long as it remains fair & competitive. The greater good is harmed when an unfair, anti-competitive system takes over. When any industry veers towards oligopoly, regulation is not only morally right, it’s economically good for everyone.

When the largest players become too large, the market over concentrates and the openness and vitality of the overall music ecosystem is directly threatened, especially when these companies gain the necessary leverage to be able to rewrite the rules for other market participants.

I am no economist, nor am I a policy maker, but as an owner of an indie label, I’ve experienced firsthand the very real and negative consequences of unchecked consolidation. It’s shaped my belief that the three majors becoming bigger is not good for the music industry as a whole.

The sheer volume of recordings on streaming services is growing every day. We are just at the dawn of generative AI. So immense will this world of content become, most of us will feel lost without algos or new AI guardian angels guiding our attention spans to comfortable terrain.

We hoped the new system would be a place where the gatekeepers of yore wouldn’t be as able to abuse their power. We believed that culture itself would grow more open. However, what we find around us is very different. Something more homogenized, tilted, artless, & anti-different.

If you’re a cutting-edge label, or a daring artist creating new music that threatens to reshape or expand the mainstream into uncharted territory, you’re more likely to be skipped and excluded.

Market concentration is reducing access, the result of a persistent, decades-long drip-drip of dominant corporations growing bigger by swallowing up smaller companies. It’s eliminating previously diverse paths to market as well as ways for fans to learn about new artists & music.

Being indie means empowering yourself to think according to your own values—not mainstream values. It’s being able to choose which systems you are a part of and who you are affiliated with, so your artistic expression can remain as unique and as freaky as you’re inspired to be.

Immense gratitude to @stereogum.com for publishing it. I share some select (and adapted) excerpts in thread below.

stereogum.com/2480201/the-...