Newsweek has a pretty interesting story about the corporate parentage of Alternative Distribution Alliance, a distributor of indie records. Despite its grassroots-sounding name, the ADA is anything but alternative. It’s owned by Warner Music Group, a subsidiary of the basement operation Time-Warner.
I’ve been aware of corporate distribution of indie-label music for a while, but either I’m not reading the right material or not that much has been written about the distribution end of indie rock.1 The US arm of Rough Trade, a major indie distributor in the 1980s, collapsed in 1991, pushing many record labels in dire financial straits. I tried to find an online source about this bit of history, but I could only find bits and pieces in interviews. After it went bankrupt, Rough Trade didn’t pay their bills and records were trapped in distribution limbo. Maintaining contacts with retail outlets, managing inventory, and moving units has to be a huge challenge for small, independent operations, so it’s not surprising there are many stories about indie distributors failing. Neal Pollack has said that all of the copies of his hilarious record Never Mind the Pollacks are locked up in a warehouse in Lawrence, Kansas because his distributor went under. It really is a pity that indie bands and labels can’t do business without working with the media giants.
Of course, the Newsweek story isn’t written from an indie purist point of view. Instead, it describes the business opportunity for the media giants in indie rock. Unlike the grunge explosion of 1991, where labels signed and promoted bands like Nirvana, Warners is making money by providing an essential part of the supply chain. Moreover, like corporate distrubution of independent film, it serves as a way to mitigate risk. The conglomerates don’t need to fund the recording of a record, and the label is largely responsible for promoting the band. They just move the physical records out to stores and take their cut.
The story suggests that the distribution biz is also a way for the giants to capitalize on niche markets. While the audience for the Twee Afrodrone genre might be small, thanks to computerized supply chain management and industry consolidation, the companies can now make money by selling many units of different items. I was surprised the story did not mention Chris Anderson’s notion of the “Long Tail,” where small audiences aggregate into the vast majority of texts (and, often, units sold.) The Long Tail is often heralded as an opportunity for greater diversity in media, but, as ADA’s success shows, it is also an opportunity for conglomerates to make more money doing business as usual.
1: The current issue of Maximumrocknroll has a great collection of interviews with owners of indie punk labels discussing the political and cultural implications of big business’ incursion into hardcore and indie rock.
