Indies Hold Nearly Half the Market. A New Report Asks Whether They Hold the Infrastructure Too.

The gap between market share and control

The report's central argument is that a growing share of the market does not necessarily translate into greater control over the business surrounding it. It focuses on three issues: the erosion of independent distribution at the hands of major labels, the AI licensing opportunity for independents in the next wave of deals, and the power of collectives and new models to support independent music.

What's happening with AI licensing

On AI specifically, the report argues that independent organizations have an opportunity to help establish consent, attribution, and payment standards as AI music licensing develops. It points to agreements by Merlin and Kobalt with ElevenLabs as examples of opt-in arrangements that allow rights holders to share in revenue, rather than having their catalogs used without a negotiated agreement in place.

The window the report says is open right now

With major labels and big tech battling in court at the extremes, the report argues that the independent sector has an opportunity to lead an ethical, fair middle path on AI licensing, but that the window will not be open for long.

Why this matters for independent artists

The report is worth reading in full if you care about where the tools and routes to market that independents rely on are actually heading, since the deals being negotiated right now by collectives, distributors, and rights organizations will likely set the template that individual artists end up working within later, whether or not they were part of the conversation. Understanding what opt-in AI licensing arrangements look like, and which organizations are representing independent interests in those negotiations, is a genuinely useful thing to follow even if you don't have a strong view on AI either way. Musosoup's approach here is to stay focused on education and transparency, helping independent artists understand how these mechanisms actually work rather than pushing a position on AI itself, so that artists can make their own informed calls as the landscape develops.