The opportunities for independent artists have never been greater. Can’t thank social media enough for making the career of an independent artist more achievable than ever. The question arises that why one needs a record label anymore? Why one would sign a record deal that benefits the label more than the artist you ask? Improper guidance, under confidence, ignorance or financial constraints might be some of the reasons. Here, we have tried mentioning the reasons why an independent artist enjoys benefit than a signed artist.

Chance the Rapper, one of the most successful independent artiste in the world

Career Control

As an independent artist, you have total control over your career. Creativity matters the most for any musician’s career. An independent artist has complete control over the direction and creative content of his music. They are able to explore lyrical content and innovative musical styles that are excluded from the mainstream. As an artist, take that opportunity to express yourself in your lyrics and your own individuality in your music. If you’re persistent, labels start to offer you a deal wherein they put a lot of money on you but in return they want a piece of your market share. Generally great things don’t come of this, as it is they who would mold your originality into trash just to sell music and gain their profit. You only make the songs they tell you too, with the musicians they choose, with the look they create for you. You have to release singles/albums when your label wants you to and are required to go on tours and feature on other peoples work. But for an independent artist there’s no pressure unlike at major labels to sacrifice your tastes in favor of seeking chart success.

Copyrights of your Work

Without a label, any revenue generated from things like album sales goes right into your pocket. Being associated with any major labels means the artist does not get to keep the rights or even the creative control over their music. The benefit of owning your copyrights is that you can determine how much of the royalties will each person that took part in the song will get. It comes in the form of controlling how much of the publishing gets distributed. Most record deals allow the label to have control over the copyright of an artist’s original work. Giving up your copyrights means giving up the ability to control how much you make.

Earn More

As an independent artist, is your own record label, so you keep 100% of the profits.  You make all of the profit from your live sales because you’re not buying them from your label. The label tends to profit 5 times the amount as you and literally almost take all your money from both album sales and touring. Concept of music streaming or Internet Radio enables you to get paid when your songs are played on the Internet. Even the karaoke tracks of your songs can be sold to make money. If your song happens to get featured in an advertisement or a film, you can license masters to the same. You may find opportunities to shop your songs nationwide as well.

No Deadlines, No Contracts

Being associated with a major label requires you to meet the deadlines; your music is influenced by corporate demands. Whereas as an independent artist you are your own bosses. You set your own schedule of work. Your contract doesn’t ever really end it’s just when you run out of money or Idea’s. This is one of the main reasons indie artists like to remain independent.You don’t have to sell out to what will make the label the most money. You can do what you want, and perform where you want.

Long-run Turnover

Contrary to popular belief, major labels do sign many artists, but much of what is signed quickly gets turned over and dropped by the label. Most labels play the numbers game. They sign a ton of artists hoping that at least one-third will make it big and they will get their return plus more. Pragmatically it may happen that your project never sees the light of day. You’ll be entangled in the limitations of your contract, just waiting around until your agreement runs out so you can actually make music. What’s worse is at the end of the year, those artists that they signed but didn’t promote will be claimed as a loss on their taxes and the label will get most of their original investment back, leaving an artist bankrupt and devoid of work.