The reign of record labels may be coming to an end at the hands of the Internet. It’s almost impossible to not have heard of Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe or other similar platforms. These are, of course, avenues for the crowd-funding of various projects. But their application in the field of music is of particular interest due to crowd-funding’s ramifications on the oft-maligned system of current music labels. It is not just crowd-funding that is threatening record labels, but also its combination with self-promotional channels such as social media and websites such as Bandcamp. These factors are combining to create a revolution in the music business.

In the past, an artist had to make himself or herself known by creating a demo tape to send to a label, getting noticed by a label representative at a show, creating enough buzz to be noticed by a label through word-of-mouth or having connections to labels. The common denominator here is that artists had to go through a label in order to make a career of music. Labels were once a necessity because of financial reasons: A label operates a bit like a bank in that it lends a band funding in order to pay for time in a studio, pressing of albums, distribution and, most importantly, promotion. The band’s album and touring then have to generate enough profit in order to pay back the money that they borrowed. With the advent of the Internet, this system has become less and less necessary, much to the pleasure of bands that would otherwise not be successful enough to flourish in such a system. This new system is built on crowd-funding programs and social networking.

Before crowd-funding became the popular platform it is today, bands like Radiohead flirted with a similar concept in offering fans the option to pay whatever they wanted for its 2007 release, In Rainbows. Fans still paid an average price of $8, though one-third of purchasers paid nothing. Thom Yorke, the vocalist for Radiohead, even remarked that the reason they chose to release the record themselves through this method was because “…the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs [a record label].”

Since 2007, more musicians have adopted this school of thought, and platforms such as Indiegogo, GoFundMe and ArtistShare have come about to fill the need for a more streamlined process. Services such as these allow fans to donate what they want to in order to help artists finance their musical ventures. Fans, in exchange, receive incentives such as merchandise, the album they are funding, sheet music or outlandish prizes such as a pizza party with the band. Basically, the fanbase takes the place of the label, removing the increasingly useless middleman between producer (artist) and consumer (fan). This new system obviously benefits both the fan and the artist because the artist is not indebted to anyone and the fan gets exactly what he or she wants.  The fans also get the satisfaction of knowing that their money goes straight to the artist, rather than a percentage being taken by a faceless corporation.

While crowd-funding has certainly been the biggest blow to the label system, social networking and self-promotional sites such as Bandcamp have also dealt a huge blow to the traditional model of the music industry. Anyone who spends any time on Facebook likely knows how important a tool it is for smaller artists to promote their material. Because artists can promote themselves for free through direct communication with the fans, the most important function and largest expense of labels—promotion—has now been rendered unnecessary. Sites such as Bandcamp also seek to remove record labels from their position of power in much the same way that crowd-funding websites do: It allows fans to purchase music directly from the artist, rather than through a long chain of distribution from label to brick-and-mortar store. For the same reasons as crowd-funding, namely the personability and intimacy of transactions, fans have wholeheartedly embraced websites such as Bandcamp.

Unfortunately, the tyranny of the label is not over, since this revolution is largely contained in the underground and indie music scene. It will likely remain there because larger artists have nothing to lose by sticking with the established label system. Furthermore, labels themselves, of course, do not want to be removed from existence, and if the threat becomes greater, they will likely do anything in their power to keep their grip on the industry. As with anything, it is important that consumers know where their money is going and try to support artists directly through the means detailed above. In time, then, labels will be a thing of the past or be forced to change their sometimes-unfair business practices. One caveat, though: Not all labels are inherently evil, but the system is flawed simply by the possibility for corruption and the fact that it has become outdated. A new system is needed, and a combination of the tools detailed above seems perfectly fit to take over. Only time will tell.