A few weeks ago, Indie Bible readers were invited to take part in a survey that sought to map the indie musician scene, including their music genres, release activity, and marketing tools. It also explored the amount of work musicians put into their craft and their measure of music-related income.
The survey was conducted by us, Intercept Music, an artist-focused organization that combines crucial business functions such as distribution, marketing, royalty collection and other monetization into a one-stop service, allowing music makers more time with creative efforts. Our goal is to help artists achieve their ultimate professional goals, be it getting signed to a label, or just achieving greater success as an indie musician.
Intercept Music is staffed by music industry veterans, inspired marketing experts with a passion for indie music, and info geeks who analyze large batches of data and turn them into musician insights. In our short lifespan, we’ve learned much about the dreams, fears, and realities from hundreds of music makers. The survey confirmed (and in some cases, dispelled) our notions about indie musicians.
Before we dig into the data, it’s worth noting that the survey may not be the perfect snapshot of the indie music world. However, considering Indie Bible’s vast reach worldwide, we took the findings seriously.
Among our first batch of findings…
1. MUSIC STYLES ARE MORE DIVERSE THAN WE EXPECTED. We expected to see a division among indie musicians: those who play more mainstream material with the goal of getting signed to a label vs. those who embrace niche genres. Rock, in its various forms, was the dominant music style, but the genres quickly diverged into “folk/traditional,” pop, country, Americana, R&B/Soul/Funk, and a long tail of regional and unique genres. A sizable percentage of respondents used the “other” option to specify electronic, theater, Afrobeats, adult contemporary and some intriguing entries, such as “Christian EDM trance pop” and “folk metal.”
2. GOING SOLO. About half of respondents described themselves as a “solo singer/songwriter,” and almost as many respondents reported being in a band of some kind. Respondents were allowed to choose more than one role if their work was divided equally among them, and the two most popular responses were “producer” and “composer.”
3. THIS IS AN EXPERIENCED GROUP. We were startled to see that nearly three-quarters of the respondents reported having toiled at music professionally for at least 10 years, and another 13% for at least five years. That doesn’t leave much room for rookie musicians, but after noting that the survey asked about years of making money, there is likely a larger pool of musicians who are out there getting started, but haven’t yet earned any money.
4. INDIE MUSICIANS ARE MOSTLY SELF-MANAGED. Over 80% of indie musicians said they, or another performing member of a band, handle their management affairs, with small slices having professional management or having a “friend/family member who helps with management.” This finding made sense to us as it aligns with the large percentage of indie musicians that don’t yet earn enough to afford professional management. Luckily, in today’s world, there are a host of “software as a service” tools that allow self-managed musicians to keep their focus on creative efforts.
5. INDIE MUSICIANS ARE MAKING A SIZEABLE INVESTMENT OF TIME. Thirty percent of the respondents consider music to be their full-time job, with another 34% spending a “sizable portion of their day” with music, even if they have another job. Taken together, two-thirds of indie musicians are devoting serious time to perfecting their craft.
There’s more to learn from the Intercept Music indie music survey, including all-important findings about music income, marketing techniques, and management tools. Plus, in our next installment, we’ll share some candid free-form comments about the dreams, experiences, and fears among indie musicians.
If you’re planning to drop a new song, Intercept Music can be a great distribution and marketing partner. Send us an email and we’ll reply with our menu of services.