Myth: Indie musicians are those talentless hacks down the street.
Truth: Indie musicians are any artists who own their music. That goes for stadium acts all the way down to your local garage band.
Myth: The only way to "make it" is to sign a record deal.
Truth: Bzzzzt, try again. If an artist is succesful enough to sign a record deal, they're succesful enough to make a great living as an Indie.
Myth: Signing a record deal means the artist is going to be huge.
Truth: Haahaahahahahaha... Signing a record deal means the artist grabs their ankles for the duration of the contract. Please remember that labels sign hundreds of acts of new acts every year. One year later, 90% of those acts have been ditched by the labels. Those dumped acts do not get their music back - it's owned by the label.
Myth: Record label artists own their music.
Truth: When an artist joins a label, every single element of the artist's professional life - lyrics, music, videos, band name, everything - is owned by the label. If the artist later leaves the label (or gets dumped), they have no rights to their music.
With Indies, they own everything forever unless they decide to sell it to a label or other business. An Indie can sell anything anywhere and get 70-100% of the money before expenses, not 5% before label expenses.
Myth: Record label artists have power.
Truth: Nope. They may have groupies, but otherwise they're just playing the Name Game. For example, a record label act may be called Metallica, but only because being called Sony's Hose doesn't play well for public exposure. Indies don't need to worry about the Name Game.
Steve Albini: The Problem with Music Search
You got a big advance for your new label contract. Congratulations, hope you can learn to live on it for 1-3 years...
Courtney Love Does the Math
Ignore record label contracts at your own risk.
Courtney Love: Artist Rights and Record Companies
Some follow-up facts about joining a label.
A Typical Record Label Contract Analysis (Kiss Your Butt Good-bye)
You can't have a better life when you never stop grabbing your ankles.
Secret RIAA Amendment Makes All Recordings "Works-for-Hire"
The RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) is a powerful group that works for record labels (not artists). Point One...
TLC Declares Bankruptcy after Selling 8 Million Albums
Want to sell 8 million albums and make less than an assistant manager at McDonald's? Sign a label contract.
Moses Avalon Royalty Calculator
To quote the web site: "Major label royalty payouts are never what they seem. Sure, you're advanced a large sum of money, but everything the company spends on an artist, is kept on account and charged back to him. Eventually, an artist will hopefully sell enough records to break past that threshold and start earning profits. But where is that number?"