Artists need indie record labels more than ever according to report from new think tank

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A quarter of all songs on streaming platforms received zero listens in 2023 showing how labels are still crucial for musical success, a report from a newly found music think tank explains.

‘Setting the Stage: How Music Works’ is the first annual report by Organisation for Recorded Culture and Arts (ORCA), a think tank, aimed at influencing governmental policy decisions around the music industry.

In the report, it notes that 24.8% or 45.6 million songs on streaming platforms received zero plays last year. The number of songs with under 1,000 plays in 2023 was 158.6 million, representing 86.2% of all music on streaming platforms like Spotify.

While the proliferation of home recording technology has made releasing music more accessible than ever, it hasn’t relegated the influence of labels on artistic success to the annals of history, the report suggests.

Being a DIY artist may have the appeal of not requiring the long-term graft of signing to a label, but it is leading the vast majority of artists to a streaming abyss.

For recording artists to sustain careers, they require six ingredients, the report writes: “ability, continued investment, partnership, expertise, time, and community engagement.” Some DIY artists may be able to apply these conditions to their careers, but the majority benefit from the longevity afforded by support from independent record labels.

“Indies are the first people to invest in an artist. Not just the first label to invest. They’re usually the first party to invest in anything significant. So when a band is just starting out, the indies are there to take a chance to invest some capital,» explains Ian Harrison, General Manager of Hopeless Records.

Independent record labels account for around 40% of the global music industry and they are growing rapidly. As they’re more likely to invest in diverse and interesting talent, they are responsible for creating a more interesting musical milieu for listeners and players alike.

ORCA is made up of multiple labels like Domino and Sub Pop who have represented big name stars like Adele, Nirvana, Christine and the Queens, The National, and Mitski, and ODESZA.

It has been founded to support the music industry and its wider community – from the label owners through to musicians starting out – by creating policy-influencing documents based on data on how the industry impacts the economy.

Martin Mills, Founder and Chairman of Beggars Group, one of the labels involved, said: “Music is an undervalued asset in the daily round, and we seek to translate the motivations underlying its production into an appreciation that art and commerce can live as one.”

ORCA’s first report has unsurprisingly focused on the importance of independent record labels. Shain Shapiro, Executive Director of the Center for Music Ecosystems & Secretariat of the think tank assures that ORCA’s main objective is to follow the data to build a consensus within and beyond the industry. “The main objective is to influence and engage those outside of the industry and build new partnerships with governments, organisations, cities, communities, investors, regulators and so on,” he tells Euronews Culture.

“One of the big challenges we face is a lack of understanding about how the music industry truly, factually, operates,” Shapiro continues. “It is a very complex ecosystem and there’s a lot of misunderstandings about roles, responsibilities and opportunities. We want to be clear and factual about how it works, what the roles of each stakeholder are and in doing so, we believe we will show that there is far more to gain by working together across a variety of issues, and that one of the core issues we all need to improve is the fact that music needs to be valued more everywhere.”

ORCA’s first report makes the argument that without the support of a healthy ecosystem of independent record labels, there is no ecosystem there to support artists in their growth through the music industry. The true test of the think tank will be how it can now influence policy in this view’s favour.