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# The Indie Vs. Major Debate Circa 2007
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/the_indie_vs_ma/
- Published: 2007-02-14T05:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2007-02-14T05:40:00.000Z
- Description: The Sunday Times online took a fairly balance look at the major vs. indie debate form the artist perspective. Do you need a major to have mega-success? Is being owned. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2007/02/the_indie_vs_ma.html]
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Indie Music, Major Labels, Music Marketing, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 11:06

The Sunday Times online took a fairly balance look at the major vs. indie debate form the artist perspective. Do you need a major to have mega-success? Is being owned by a label worth it? Or is it really even that bad?

> “Go into the Universal car park and look at the amount of German hardware that needs to be paid for,” says Ian Grenfell, a former executive at East West records and now MD  
> of Mick Hucknall’s groundbreaking venture simplyred.com. “Who’s

[![Money_11](https://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/images/money_11.jpg "Money_11")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/money%5F11.jpg&ref=hypebot.com)

going to pay for that? There is a mechanism to keep artists permanently unrecouped. It’s not like a bank loan — it’s worse than that. It’s a bank loan you can never pay off.”

“It’s too easy to slag off the major labels,” says Nick Ray-monde, who was part of the team that signed and developed Take That and Kasabian at the premerger BMG, and now runs a multimedia promotions and management company…A small operation like his, Ray-monde argues, can start the ball rolling. “But once a band get to a certain level, you need more power.” He doesn’t accept that the royalty split is always unfair. “To do things on a mass scale, you need to take a hit on the money. Nothing of nothing is nothing. And the market is so quick.." ([more](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts%5Fand%5Fentertainment/music/article1353638.ece?ref=hypebot.com))