On the first day of this summer's Ozzfest tour, the daunting task of opening the show fell to an unsigned band called Apartment 26. The group worked through its allotted 20 minutes, frontman Biff Butler looked out onto the largest collection of ears his band had ever played to, and with no album to plug, he carefully chose what words to leave the crowd with. "Check out apartment26.com. Thank you, and good night," he shouted.With the Internet giving mass media back to the masses, today's D.I.Y. ethic is paving a more high-tech road than the flier-stapling days of yore. Home computers, digital audio software, CD burners, and desktop publishing have made pro-quality production and marketing from the living room a reality.Case in point: Pitchshifter, a band that uses affordable technology to build both its sound and its audience. The English techno-metal outfit formed in 1991 and landed on independent Earache Records in 1992. After years of fusing metal and drum-n-bass on their hard drives and corralling new fans online, the band caught the attention of Geffen Records, which signed the band in 1997.[more...] | 
The '80s and the '90s have been the best of times and the worst of times for indie labels, especially for the East Coast-West Coast operations of Matador Records and Sub Pop Records. Now, as the recording industry struggles to shake off the malaise that has paralyzed the business since the much-heralded super merger of Polygram and Universal, Matador and Sub Pop, two of the leading (and largest) independents, find themselves reanalyzing both their positions in the marketplace as well as some of the Darwinist business strategies that come with them.Based in New York, Matador was formed back in 1989 by Chris Lombardi, who issued albums by such artists as H.P. Zinker, Railroad Jerk, and Superchunk from an office he ran out of his Manhattan apartment. After scoring early successes with records from Teenage Fanclub, the label began to build up a strong roster centered around such acclaimed acts as the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Liz Phair, Pavement, and Yo La Tengo.[more...]
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Back in 1993, Jawbox, which had recorded its first two LPs for the stalwart D.C. independent Dischord Records, was ready to prove that an act with punk rock purpose, grassroots cred, and a devoted hardcore following could make the leap from the frontlines of the underground to a major label while still calling the shots and keeping its soul intact. Following a voracious bidding war, the group signed with Atlantic Records, who released its third album, 1994's "For Your Own Special Sweetheart." After three months of promotion, the album performed well, but not to the label's six-figure expectations.That's when things got weird, according to former Jawbox frontman J. Robbins. Atlantic steered the band toward its just-developed "mini-major" boutique label, TAG."They pushed TAG really hard," Robbins said. "We were sold on it being more like an indie label; it would use the resources of the major, but it didn't have to make a hit or sell 100,000 copies. It sounded appealing. Anybody who knew Jawbox knew we weren't going to sell that many records."[more...]
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