Differences between Major and Independent Labels Essay Example

In this light, it is apparent that musicians who have already accumulated wealth can afford to seek the services of major labels that in turn help in marketing their music to a bigger audience hence expanding their fan base across the globe. Additionally, it requires artists who have gained experience in the music industry and are well conversant with the art of stage performance among other dynamics encompassing the music industry. This enables them to perform exceptionally well in all the diverse platforms at regional and international level. On the other hand, the independent labels largely characterize musicians in their inceptive stages of their career. Most of them though not all, are not financially stable and would prefer marketing their music without seeking help from an agency or a management firm; as that will be costly and unprofitable. Furthermore, the artists need more exposure to gain experience in stage performance as well as grow fan support as an independent label before thinking of advancing their music to another new level that can be attained with the help of a major label among other agencies.Another outstanding difference between major and independent labels is the actual contracts they sign. Based on the contract, an artist subscribed to independent label has more benefit than an artist subscribing to major label. This is simply because in their contract, major labels do not allow artists to keep rights to their music; the major label can use it for what they want. This includes selling it off for films, television, commercials or any other ways they want. Thus, some benefits are taken by the parent company leaving the artist with little room to taste the fame (Brain 302). The marketing firms sign binding contracts with artists. The contract almost makes the artist an employee to the marketing firm. An independent artist however plans for all the shows and has a right to sell his or her music to films. All the proceeded in revenue gets back to the performing artist and not any marketing firm. Chance Rapper notes,The other difference is in the proceeds made from the various labels ascribed to by a musician. Whereas most artists dealing with major record labels earn between 10% to 15% royalty to their music, artists subscribing to Independent labels commonly offer between 40% to 75% loyalty. This illustrates how much major labels take in for themselves while suffocating artists in terms of cash. Thus, an independent label may