By: Darien Campo (Staff Writer)
I discovered Snowmine largely by accident.
Browsing the plethora of music on Bandcamp.com led me to their page, where I found a free download to their first album “Laminate Pet Animal” (a palindromic title.)
Curious, I downloaded it and found that Snowmine was just the right amount of ambient indie-pop I’d been looking for my whole life. I’ve since bought all of their music and consider myself a lifetime follower.
It was luck that I found Snowmine, since back then there was hardly any mention of them on the internet. See, Snowmine isn’t signed to a major record label – in fact, they’re not signed to any record label at all. It’s not that they can’t get a label contract, they’re actively avoiding signing on to a label.
If it’s only going to lower their exposure, why would a band decide not to try and get a record label? Isn’t that the ultimate goal of any musician?
Not quite, anymore. In more recent years it’s actually becoming quite common to see musicians around the globe sharing their music without ever seeing a record contract — all thanks to the internet.
With websites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, it’s easier than ever to upload and share your music without major backing. Thousands of indie artists choose a more direct way of selling music to their fans, using the internet to grow their fan base.
But it’s not just indie artists that have spurned labels, major bands are trying it as well.
In 2003, Radiohead, one of the world’s biggest bands, finished their six-album contract with EMI and they’ve never looked back. Since then they’ve released two albums, “In Rainbows” and “The King of Limbs” on their own website, with a “pay-what-you-want” pricing model.
Though it doesn’t guarantee as much exposure, bands like Snowmine appreciate the personal relationship to their fans self-distribution can give.
Their “from-us-to-you” campaign in promotion of their second album “Dialects” was a huge success. Fans enjoy dealing directly with their favorite artists instead of buying through a label.
The future of the music industry is coming fast, and it’s hard to tell if record labels are going to be a part of it anymore.
Like Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke told Time in a 2005 interview, “I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one.”
