Arguably two of the biggest acts of 2013; Beyonce and Macklemore have achieved notable success in the past year. What made them stand out, though, is that they are independent, as they do not belong to any major label / corporation.
Macklemore's "The Heist" album was a huge success that generated couple of hits; most notably the mega-hits "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" and the Grammy nominated "Same Love". Their success was a blow in the face to the major corporation as they didn't need help from a major label to make it into the industry - They did it on their own. Which is quite inspiring to musical acts especially in this day and age.
Beyonce released her game changing album "BEYONCE" and went against all odds and did something which isn't in the "norm" of the music industry. Now, while I don't know exactly how independent Beyonce is or if she is tied under contract or whatever, but she did spoke out against labels especially this era and specifically in the song "Haunted":
Quote:
I'm climbing up the walls cause all the **** I hear is boring
All the **** I do is boring
All these record labels boring
I don't trust these record labels I'm torn
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And as you already know, BEYONCE achieved tremendous success despite it being a huge risk, and the release was boycott by some retailer stores as a statement against it. But at the end of it all, you could say that this independent project / release / act payed off pretty well.
Should other major artists follow suite? We've seen what's been going on with the likes of JoJo and Ke$ha and their problems with their managers / labels. Also, if it did happen, how would that effect the music industry -- For the better or the worse?