Independent Music

Tyler the creator released Flower Boy in 2017 without a label. He owned masters, distributed through YouTube, Apple, Spotify. 20 million fans listened in year one. He made 60% instead of 15 from labels and spent zero marketing. For decades, the music industry was a producer model. Labels controlled distribution. Songs needed physical pressing and retail placement. Distribution was expensive and needed scale. Labels took 85%, paid artists 15 because they couldn't reach consumers. Streaming broke it. Artists could upload to Spotify from anywhere. Distribution cost nothing. A song reached 100 million for same cost as 1 million.