Indies in 2014: no longer the underdog

The recorded music industry can be divided into two main games – The Distribution Business and the Control Of Copyright Business.

The Distribution Business (both physical and digital) is now increasingly and inevitably dominated by major labels. Majors are investing huge amounts of money in a race for market share and influence, and the independent sector just can’t keep up. This is bad for AIR, its members and all aspiring musicians. There are very few options for artists or indie labels wishing to find a completely independent way to deliver music to a wide audience

Meanwhile, the Control Of Copyright Business is more and more dominated by the only companies willing to base their business on the development of great music and great musicians – the indies. This is great for AIR and its members.

If we talk about copyright ownership, AIR’s members have, at times, in the past few years, amassed more than 35% of Australian music sales, surpassing both Warner and Sony.

Meanwhile, soon-to-be-published analysis by AIR leads us to believe that the independent recording sector in Australia is worth more than $80m with a GDP impact of close to $90m. This will increase.

While it’s worth celebrating the recent success of the independent sector, it’s time now that policy-makers, major labels, digital platforms, retailers and music press stop treating the indie sector as an unexpected over-achiever. It’s also time for the independent sector itself to stop acting with that underdog mentality.

2013 saw the Australian music industry reach new heights in export and international success. AIR partnered with Sounds Australia and the PPCA to take ten of our members to New York for a mission to A2IM’s Indie Week. What became clear in New York was that our best labels are equal to any label in the world in terms of best business practice. Combine best business practice with the Australian domination of international music showcases like CMJ, and you’ll see that we’re in an incredible position to be world-leaders in both the art and commerce of the music industry.

When it comes to celebrating independent copyright owners, AIR has been doing it for eight years now with the Independent Music Awards. This year we welcomed Carlton Dry as a chief sponsor of our awards and charts. That sponsorship guarantees this organisation’s financial security and will fund most of our sector development activities.

For the record, AIR is also funded by modest membership fees, and an annual contribution from the PPCA.

Of particular note at our awards was the Carlton Dry Global Music Grant which saw $50,000 being awarded to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard to further their career overseas. Flume won four awards – the first bunch of what looks to be an endless parade of well-deserved accolades, while Vance Joy took home two awards. Big Scary and Jagwar Ma were the other stand-out nominees.

The peer-voted nominees for AIR’s Best Independent Label Award exemplify the breadth of Australia’s leading indie labels: Milk! Records is owned and run by break-out independent songwriter Courtney Barnett; Sweat It Out goes from strength to strength as world leaders in indie dance and house music; Liberation remains the flagship label of the Mushroom Group; and artist-run collective Two Bright Lakes continue to inspire creatively. Fittingly, AIR’s members awarded ‘Best Label’ to the company that best exemplifies the aforementioned leadership in art and commerce – Future Classic, now indisputably the pre-eminent tastemaker in Australian electronic music as well as our most successful label.

Nick O’Byrne,
General Manager – AIR and Executive Programmer – BIGSOUND

This is one of numerous interesting articles in the Australian Music Industry Quarterly – out now. To order an actual, physical copy, click here.