A Hipsters View on the Music Industry

"Who needs a record label? We seem to be a sidewalk sensation!"

Hipsters are a strange creature, they have a love hate relationship with the music industry today. They say they like music but won't buy albums, they'll have a favourite band but then love to seem them fall once they make it to the top. They'll say things like "I liked them before they were cool." Maybe so, but based off their views, let's see exactly how the average band today should work.

A band literally starving for success gains some notoriety in the underground scene, wherever it may be.  From this initial success they may get signed to an indie label like Sup Pop Records. From there they begin to play nationwide and maybe get one of their songs played in an Apple commercial or featured at Starbucks or other chic chain hipster store.

The hipsters soon here the ad on TV and then instantly it becomes un-cool as the band begins to garner wider mainstream success. This further alienates some of the original fans so the band must now do something hip to gain the core fans back.

By this point the band will probably be on a major label like Sony. They'll play their concerts then encourage fans to pirate their album, and say something like "Fu** the record label!"

The band will then realize that at end of the day without their record label they are nothing, will get dropped, and start all over. By this point the indie fans have abandoned them for someone less mainstream and they go back to their day jobs. Band's cannot  succeed without money, and you can't have money without a label. Next time a band says screw Sony, just smile and know that they'll be washing your car/flipping your burger/mowing your lawn in the next six to eight months.