Independent labels have a long history of promoting developments in popular music, stretching back to the post-war period in the United States, with labels such as Sun Records, King Records, Stax, etc.[1]
In the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s, the major record companies had so much power that independent labels struggled to become established. Several British producers and artists launched independent labels as outlets for their work and artists they liked, but the majority failed as commercial ventures or were swallowed up by the majors.[1]
During the punk rock era the number of independent labels grew.[1] The UK Indie Chart was first compiled in 1980, and independent distribution became better organized from the late 1970s onwards.[2]
In the late 80's Seattle based Sub Pop Records was at the center of the grunge scene. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s as the advent ofmp3 files & digital download sites such as Apple's iTunes changed the recording industry, an Indie Neo-soul scene soon emerged from the urban Underground soul scenes of London, NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago & L.A., primarily due to commercial Radio & the major label's biased focus on the marketing, promotion & Airplay of Pop & Hip Hop music during this period. Independent Labels such as Dome Records & Expansion Records in the U.K. and Ubiquity Records in the U.S. and a plethora of others around the world as well as various "online stores" such as www.dustygroove.com, www.soultracks.com, etc, support the Nu soul movement today.
