The Artist In Between....

To continue with the Music Business theme that I have previusly discussed, I want to take it a bit further with regards to the Artists specifically. With a struggling economy, how is possible for an artist to survive especially if they do not have a record deal from a major deal.

What is an Singer/Rapper/Musician to do take make a living in the business without the financial backing of a major publishing, distribution, and marketing deal? The Pro's & Cons of an Indie Label is that it has a lot less money at their disposal but an artist would have more artistic control over thier music Which would also give an Artist an opportunity to earn more points or credits from their album sales. Another benefit to being signed to an Indie Label is that they are willing to step outside of the box and allow their artist to be diverse but with major labels which is so money driven that they follow the gimicks to sell records.

There are artists that make a distinct impact in the music industry that at one point started out independently but sold well enough to grab the attention of the major labels. When we think of the artists in Hip Hop for example the started out indie, would be people like Drake, 50 Cent, Jay Z, T.I., & etc. These individuals created there own demographic, sold thousands of records from lite touring & selling albums out of the back of their cars. They had a hustle that made them in such a high demand that they were in a comfortable place where they set the rules on their percentages, signing bonuses, and they were being chased instead of chasing behind record exects.

The question is what is better, to have nation-wide distribution but artists receive pennies on the dollar for each album. Or selling your own records and pocket most of the revenue earned and have more freedom or control with a limited amount of resources?

What would you choose and Why?