Why Recording labels Still Matter

Around the turn of the century, it looked as if the record label's days were numbered. The internet promised to cut out the middleman between band and fan, Napster facilitated free downloading of music at the click of a button, and industry heavyweights such as Creation's Alan McGee predicted that the majors were going the way of the dinosaurs. But today, the UK's indie labels are flourishing. "I firmly believed five years ago that there wouldn't be labels; that the internet was going to make us obsolete," says Mark Bowen of Wichita. "The principal reason that hasn't happened is the bands themselves. Bands want that sense of belonging – they want to feel like they're part of something bigger, part of a community."

It's barely an exaggeration to say that UK music culture in the 80s and 90s was a story of independent labels. Rough Trade signed the Smiths and turned indie into a genre. Mute happened upon a bunch of Basildon teenagers named Depeche Mode and took synthpop to the world. Earache, founded in 1985 by Digby "Dig" Pearson in a Nottingham bedroom, discovered Napalm Death, and invented grindcore. A trusted label logo, says Pearson, is a stronger recommendation than anything Spotify's algorithm can cook up. "Tech culture doesn't understand music; it's just data to them," he says. "Indies exist because we understand the music-making process, back artists with finances, empower them with the knowledge of how to get the music out to fans."

Running an indie in 2014 is "all hands on deck", says Mairead Nash, who runs Luv Luv Luv Records. "Anything you do with the artist comes under the label umbrella now, whether it's TV, booking shows, putting records out, online – whatever it takes to make it work. I feel like this era is like punk again – it's quite hard to sell records now, so if you come up with a way of doing it, you own it."

Indie labels are "the risktakers, the pioneers", says Joe Daniel of Angular Recording Corporation, who cites the revived interest around vinyl and cassettes as proof that the idea of a label still resonates. He organises London's annual Independent Label Market, which is preparing for its fifth year. "It's been a big success, and that's testament to how much effort people put into the products that they sell. Ninja Tune made a zoetrope out of a 12-inch record, you've got labels giving away free download codes with a banana, handmade mix tapes, all sorts. There's a real sense of fun to it." The importance of such grassroots activity shouldn't be overlooked, says Bowen. "Major labels do TV shows, they do pop artists, and they really haven't got interest in building careers – growing a band from 10 to 15 to 50,000 sales just isn't a scale they operate on. The fact that indies still care about that, and can also deliver the Adeles, the Arctic Monkeys… I think they're more important than ever."

"What's great about independent labels is that they're all different from each other," says Mute founder Daniel Miller. "The only way we can survive is putting out great music. Of course you have to be flexible, keep up with new platforms of distribution, marketing and so forth, but without the music, there's nothing."