A lot of bands who sign to major labels do so out of a desire to be more universally accepted or make more money off their music, i.e. turn it into a full and lucrative career. Last week I explained about how Rage Against the Machine tried to take their message to the mass audience and for the most part it didn't work, even if they were highly successful in a commercial sense (but that wasn't something they exactly stood for).
The 90's were an incredibly prolific time for music, both underground and in the mainstream. British music had a number of good mainstream bands such as Blur and Suede, and America was awash with talent in the form of the Chilis, a re-vamped R.E.M., Nirvana et al. But the 90's marked a point where it became apparent you didn't necessarily need major backing to become popular or successful. In the late 1980's, Ian Mackaye formed Fugazi with some of the most talented musicians in the thriving indie D.C. scene. They are, today, perhaps the most shining example of staying true to what you believe in that has ever existed in the form of a band. Never even toying with the idea of signing to a major, in fact quite the opposite, they made visceral and dynamic music with lyrics that were less political and more social, not just highlighting faults in the system or saying how much they despise it, but outright de-constructing the system and leaving it bare for everyone to see. Their album Repeater as of today has sold two million copies worldwide, one million of those in it's home country. In light of this, it starts to become apparent we had moved into an age where if you were a genuinely good band, you could become successful, and take your music not just to a larger audience but to an audience who truly appreciates what you are doing. On the contrary side of this, take my friends' experience at a Jack White concert recently; this man is well known for his music, but at his concert it became apparent to my friend that the majority of the audience were only there to hear 'Seven Nation Army', with the crowd being very static and unexcited throughout the majority of the gig. But when a band plays to people who understand and relate to the band as well as enjoy the music, it creates a real atmosphere that can be cathartic as well as enjoyable.
Fugazi continued making great music and playing these kind of gigs throughout the decade, going out on as high a note as they started. Mackaye's own label, Dischord, is still going strong with no outside support, and in the 1980's and 90's particularly it released some of the most interesting rock music made yet. Among the best of these were Jawbox, a band that today are perhaps a little unknown, undeservedly so. They made a number of impressive albums in the 90's, two of them on Atlantic. Those two were undoubtedly their most realised albums, but the change from Dischord to a major damaged their original fanbase's attitude's to them, and as a result their first album for Atlantic had a hard time finding an audience. It was a very certain kind of music, unlike anything in the charts at the time, and a large number of people who would have bought and loved the album did not purchase it out of principal. Sadly this album is among the greatest of its time, and it remains under appreciated to this day, even after a remaster/reissue and a brief reunion of the band itself. The same point remains as with Rage Against the Machine's first album: the production of the album really brought out the best in the band's sound but it was being presented to people who didn't look for interesting or stylistically unique music, as the mainstream is usually looking for a big hook or catchphrase to latch onto; not something Jawbox was intending to do, with their most commercially viable song was an obscure love song that commented on male objectification of women (in a pedestal-placing sense) that opened with a dissonant chord riff. Their music fell on uncaring ears but did well enough commercially for Jawbox to be kept on for another album, another progression from their last, but were dropped due to the albums "apparent lack of singles". J. Robbins, frontman and guitarist, and Bill Barbot, guitarist, would go on to perform in other bands together that made interesting and relevant music, albeit this time learning from past mistakes and releasing it on their own independent label. They would later release work on Dischord, too, showing no bad blood between the two groups.
A move from major to minor label is usually a decision made after much deliberation, and usually the intentions are not that of greed but to try and achieve a more universal acceptance of their music, reach out to more people, or for a sense of financial safety they didn't feel they had on their indie label. In a lot of cases, it turns out with the artist/band having less creative say when they make an album but with better support when touring. In cases like that of Jawbox, the creative control is entirely the bands, but the label does not advertise it or put much effort into getting it known, which can make bands lose out on a chance they might not be able to recreate if the finished album is particularly good. That's not to say all indie labels are being presented as perfect or even the more sensible choice, while there are some truly incredible independent labels who have existed autonomously for many years and continued to produce good music, there have been a few who weren't as stable as others. While SST is a legendary label for its content, a lot of bands left it during the 80's for majors or major-funded labels, including Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Hüsker Dü, often citing lack of adequate payment for their record as part of their decision to move. But what a good indie label can do, and this is something SST were also good at, is having the right audience to distribute the music to.
My opinion is that if an audience truly appreciates an artists work, that is something more to aspire to than selling out arenas full of people coming to hear one or two songs. Music should be a personal thing, not in the sense of keeping it to yourself, but as a way of connecting with people similar to you. An interest in a certain band can say a lot about a person. It is all too often used as a tool of establishing social order, of who is cool or not, which is a disgusting way of treating music – and personally, as a musician, I hear the state of mainstream music and all I know is that whatever it is, I want to stay the hell away from that side of music, and not strike deals with the people who spread it. I think it's important to show you don't need a large salary to make good, soulful and relevant music, and that you're prepared to dedicate your life to it, doing the best you can at what you love to do.
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