Natalie Merchant made headlines half a decade ago when she decided to leave the confines of a major label contract and go it alone, setting up her own independent label for her releases. Seen as a maverick move by the status quo, Merchant and her manager stated at the time that she would ultimately make more money from the venture than if she had stayed with a major. Today’s New York Times article brings us up to date on the venture and how Merchant’s business model has evolved.
“This is a new song,” Natalie Merchant announced onstage at the Hiro Ballroom on Friday night, at her first full New York City concert in four years. “Try to absorb it here, now, ’cause I don’t know when I’ll make a record.”
Ms. Merchant, who sold millions of albums in the 1990s, has an adoring audience and no record label behind her. She’s not alone. As contracts end, more and more well-known musicians are trying to reinvent their careers for the era of mass downloading and plunging album sales. At the Hiro Ballroom, when a voice in the crowd asked when Ms. Merchant would release a new album, she said with a smile that she was awaiting “a new paradigm for the recording industry.” Another fan called out, “Myth America,” the independent label Ms. Merchant formed in 2003 to release “The House Carpenter’s Daughter,” an album of rearranged folk songs. Ms. Merchant replied, “Myth America is bankrupt.”
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