An article I wrote for RawMg.

I avoided showing this to friends after it was posted as I know too many people who are furiously anti-record labels. However, in the comfort of my own blog, I do not care. So here it is. Little things I have gathered from stories about social networking sites, musicians and record labels. This was posted up on RawMg (link to article at the bottom of the post) and is my second piece of actually-published-in-real-life writing.

'Unless you have been in hiding on Mars, you will probably have heard someone talk about 'the death of the record industry'. People aren't buying CDs as much as they used to,

practically anything you could possibly want can be found on some dark corner of the Internet for free and plenty of people have taken the path of rising through the ranks of social networking sites such as MySpace using only their computers in lieu of 'proper' recording equipment. So are record labels necessary?
Once upon a time, yes. Without one, you were unlikely to gain the success or promotion required to hit the big time and make real money (though there is the large chance that you wouldn't make a great deal of money anyway). Nowadays...it depends on who you ask. Bands like 'Millionaires', 3 American girls who accidentally started their band by posting a song created on Garageband on their MySpace page have earned a lot of success in the US and overseas gained a fanbase without a record label have had their songs used in various TV shows, they have released EPs with Decaydance and the label they are now signed to, B-Unique Records (which itself is a division of Atlantic records) along with their self released first EP, 'Bling Bling Bling!', so it would seem that they have seen success with and without.
Lily Allen is another example of a MySpace musician who gained a following through the site, got signed to a record label and is now a very popular artist with 2 hit albums under her belt. Kate Nash was discovered and signed when Lily Allen put one of her songs in her MySpace 'Top 8', and so it goes on.
However, some have seen a very dark side to the record industry. Just ask Amanda Palmer who literally (and very publicly, at that) begged Roadrunner Records to drop her. Palmer's band 'The Dresden Dolls' released two albums with Roadrunner and had seen plenty of underground and some mainstream popularity when they went 'on hiatus' in 2008. Still tied to a contract, she released her first solo album 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' with them. It was promoted by the label very little and Amanda claims to barely have seen a cent from the album itself, instead making most of her money from various pre-order packages and different merchandise, most notably a book featuring pictures of her 'dead' in various places with stories by author Neil Gaiman to go along with them. Once liberated from her label and after posting a celebratory blog, Amanda has released an EP of Radiohead covers played on the ukulele, which is available from 52p but can be purchased at any amount above that -depending on how generous the buyer is feeling- and more merchandise packages to go with it.
Similarly, Radiohead released their 2007 album 'In Rainbows' after ending their contract with EMI. A digital version of the album could be bought for any amount at all, though a physical copy could be bought for a set price and was found to be very profitable.
With the downfall of MySpace and the uprise of websites like Bandcamp, which allows users to upload their music and give it away for free or sell downloads, it is little wonder that more and more musicians are coming out and making money on their own terms. Other social networks like Twitter and Facebook allow people to connect with friends and strangers alike to spread the word about their latest creation. The Internet is a place for artists to thrive alone and getting signed has become less of a concern for many of them and many of them are happy with their growing fanbases.
All that said, record labels aren't quite dead. Lots of talented people are still getting signed and making the money and the music required to stay on top in spite of the fact that the sales of CDs have gone down and digital sales have gone up and people are downloading like crazy and fame may be a harder goal to reach without publicists, managers, producers and everyone else working for a label backing them.
Are record labels necessary? It depends on your goals. But 'the death of the record industry' hasn't quite occurred yet.'

By Audrey Bishop

At the moment, the article as it is meant to be seen can be seen here.