The Prodigy, the Charlatans and Maximo Park are among artists who have given their backing to the first Independents Day, scheduled for July 4 and organised by UK trade body AIM. More big names are expected to be unveiled today as the lineup is finalised.
Each will contribute covers of tracks originally released on independent labels to a new double album released on July 4 to tie in with a number of other profile-raising events, including a five-part series on Channel 4, an eBay auction of memorabilia and a specially organised gig. On the first CD, big-name artists will cover well-known independent releases such as PIL's Public Image, Ghost Town by the Specials and Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. The second disc will contain music by a number of new, up and coming acts chosen by the same artists.
Around the world, versions of the album will be released in the US, New Zealand, Spain, Australia, South Africa, France, Austria, Japan and Italy, with local artists represented on each.
Alison Wenham, chair of AIM, said the day, which will also raise money for charity, did not have an overarching theme but was designed to raise the profile of independent labels and the job they do in uncovering new talent and nurturing creativity.
"We're doing it for the love of it, for the joy of it, for the hell of it," she said, suggesting that independents had been "at the forefront of every single new musical movement over the years".
For evidence, she could point to everything from the DIY punk aesthetic of the 1970s to the indie guitar sound of New Order, the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Smiths in the 1980s, and the dance music boom of the 1990s.
Independents Day, which will become an annual event, also ties in with the 50th anniversary of the sector. Island Records was conceived in Jamaica in 1958 by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall and later went on to sign U2 before selling to Polygram in 1989.
Many of the best known independent labels, including Alan McGee's Creation and the late Tony Wilson's Factory, are no more or were bought up during the 1990s by major labels. Others folded either through over-expansion or cashflow problems. But many of those that survived are undergoing something of a renaissance, with Domino leading the revival of British guitar music in the past five years with Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, and the biggest British indie, Beggars Group, housing 4AD, Rough Trade and XL, the label that brought the White Stripes and Dizzee Rascal to mass attention.
While independent labels face the same challenges as the rest of the industry in boosting download sales to make up for flagging CD revenues and persuading a generation used to free music of its monetary value, Wenham argued they were better placed than their major label rivals. Because they already have strong, trusting relationships with their artists and are more open to trying pioneering new distribution and revenue models, they are less vulnerable to their biggest names trying to go it alone. Radiohead are just one act who recently swapped a major label for an independent one. Digital distribution and new revenue streams also help level the playing field, which since the 1970s has been tilted in the direction of the major labels with their big marketing budgets.
"If you look at artists like Madonna, more of them are going it alone. But we have artists that have been part of independent labels for decades," said Wenham.
Quarterly results and the need to please the City were not conducive to making good music, she said. To be members of AIM, labels need to be at least 50% independently owned. Wenham said it had 850 members in the UK alone, contributing around £25m to the economy. Most of the majors, including EMI under new owner Guy Hands, have recently declared their intention to work like larger versions of independent labels, with networks of smaller labels that have stronger "partnerships" with a smaller number of artists. But Wenham said they would never be able to replicate the enthusiasm of the sector and denied the word independent had lost its allure since being appropriated to mean a certain style of prepackaged guitar music.
"Indie is a very cool badge. But you can't replicate it. It's really not about the money, it's about the music. If you have shareholders to please, inevitably it becomes about making money from the music."
Retailers also welcomed the initiative, saying it would help to focus attention on some of the smaller acts that tended to get ignored during other industry-wide sales drives or seasonal promotions.
Entertainment Retailers Association chairman Paul Quirk said: "Independents Day is a great way to focus attention on the innovative indie labels who do so much to drive British music forward. Inevitably the main music industry promotions tend to focus on big-money acts. This is a way of supporting the grassroots."
On the album
A disc by up and coming acts such as Mobius Band, Little Dragon, Cougar, Shrag, Oceansize and Electricity in Our Homes will accompany the cover version disc featuring established artists.
The tracks announced so far include:
Tom Smith (from Editors) Bonny (originally by Prefab Sprout); Feeder Public Image (PiL); Maximo Park Was There Anything I Can Do? (The Go-Betweens); Prodigy Ghost Town (The Specials); Cribs Bastards of Young (The Replacements); Jose Gonzales Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division); Futureheads With Every Heartbeat (Robyn); Jack Peñate Dub Be Good to Me (Beats International); Rodrigo y Gabriela Orion (Metallica); British Sea Power Tug Boat (Galaxie 500); The Charlatans Murder (New Order); Infadels Steady As She Goes (The Raconteurs)
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