One of the mysteries, but not really a mystery, of the music industry is that you need to invest a lot of money to make money. Airtime on radio stations and high ranking spots on streaming programs are usually paid for. This means that for most of history, working with radio stations has been incredibly difficult for indie artists because their music didn’t get played just because it was good, they had to pay for airtime.
During a 2004 investigation, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer did a lot to get rid of the pay-to-play practice on radio stations, but it didn’t solve the problem. The findings also had no effect on Spotify and Apple’s playlist curators. This makes it extremely difficult for indie artists to distribute their music.
Major record labels offer musicians a lot if they think you’re worthy of a contract. Then the band doesn’t have to worry about funding airtime, producing and distributing albums, or whether they’ll make a profit because they’ve signed a deal that actually makes them money. Major record labels open doors that most indie artists simply can’t break through on their own.
So, in many cases, singing with a major record label is a financial decision for a band. Many simply cannot continue without the support of a well-known company. Others do it as an artistic choice to help spread their music to a wider audience that they may not have been able to reach before. Either way, signing with a major label or subsidiary is the fastest way to grow in the music industry.
It is extremely difficult to find artists who are completely free from the influence of the big three, as they have a hand in many areas and almost everywhere in the world.