The business of music has transformed in the last two decades, driven by technology that shattered barriers to entry and creators’ determination to control their destiny. At the 66 th Grammy Awards earlier this year, more than half of the nominees were independent . And it’s more than just business: the indie movement has enabled diverse voices that could not be heard previously to occupy their rightful place in the industry.
This makes music, and our society, more egalitarian and better. Whether blues, punk, hip-hop or country, America’s most recognizable music genres started out in the indie sector, and today the association I lead has more than 750 members across 35 states, and most of them are small businesses with less than 50 employees. As the music industry has changed, so have they.
Yet, some of the most important players in the music ecosystem cling to a bygone era that was dictated by the motto, “Might Makes Right.” Exhibit A is iHeartRadio. The corporate behemoth controls 860-plus stations across the country that play over 50 million songs a year.
Those songs helped iHeart’s multiplatform group — covering broadcast radio and national sales — generate more than $2.4 billion in 2023 alone, according to its latest earnings report . But iHeart is stuck in 1990.
It doesn’t bother discovering new artists. Instead, it overplays the hits and milks classic songs that were released decades ago. Despite the growing movement to achieve economic justice, iHear.
