Is The Increase Of “Boutique” Indie Instrumental labels Hurting Music?
An opinion piece on concerns of oversaturation within instrumental focused music
In my opinion yes and no. For decades Major labels have been very much geared towards Vocalists, with many producers acting as external contractors to them. Many of these majors curated artists recordings in order to get the most “marketable” or standout radio songs in a small batch out to music audiences. To a degree this still occurs now, except the people curating know little to nothing about what makes a great song and would probably be best suited to overseeing a drinks factory.
Of recent times, several indie labels have found soaring popularity through their rosters consisting of majority instrumental artists. From long established Hip Hop/Experimental labels such as Redefinition Records and Brainfeeder to Electronic/Dance ones such as Soulection and Darker Than Wax, the instrumental scene has taken on the music world by storm.
Its now gotten to the point where a little known rapper from down your road could get a record or management deal, simply by hopping on the right instrumental artist’s beat and marketing It hard enough to a receptive audience. But what is the underlining issue with some of these fashionable Indie instrumental labels everyone and their pet dog is starting up?
Quite simply put, It could be the lack of curation (and lack of focus). Outlets like SoundCloud have been flooded by the “next big thing’s” rework of Ciara, remix of Drake etc. etc. A consistent theme of these EDM/Chillwave/Trap/Deep House etc Reworks/Remixes by producers in particular is that no one seems to recall some of the songs and release details years after.
Am I wrong? Try and think of the track name of an instrumental song released by e.g. Mad Decent in 2013 without googling It or using SC (SoundCloud). Can’t think of one? neither can I and thats a huge label (http://maddecent.com/blog/artists/), imagine what Its like with the smaller ones that are churning out a beat or release every week!
On the other side, the increase in these fashionable indie labels seems to have helped Hip Hop alot (at least in the now). With the rapid decrease in talented MC’s (Yes I know It sounds harsh but listen to enough Poundcake and 0-100 freestyles and you’ll understand), It seems that talented producers have outnumbered the MC’s, many to one. Beat scenes (Yes I said scenes, the LA one isnt the only one out there!) and labels are sprouting out from all over the world with producers you’ve never heard of before dropping very solid beats.
Many of these beats seem to find their way on tape and vinyl formats that hip hop heads are actively collecting. Although It could be argued that many dont have any long term impact in their short runs of 50 — 100 tape/300 Vinyl units. All of this seems to be sustaining Hip Hop or at least acting as a blueprint to 1 half of the perfect marriage between a good vocalist and a good beat. Whether the music scene suffers greatly to this phenomenon, will be seen later in time.
