Alternative music is driven by the idea that the best, most exciting, orginal, or challenging music is not well-served by the rent-seeking economic behaviour of the largest record labels. But creating genuinely alternative forms of music production has proven problematic, with many once promising labels either being taken over by big labels, or gradually assuming their habits. The independent music ethos refers to the distinctive business and creative ethics that characterise distinctively independent music production when contrasted to big label music production.
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