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Abstract
This study questions the conceptualization of independent record labels in the popular music industry as providing a cultural and economic alternative to the major label distribution system. Using a political economic analysis based on trade-publication and popular music press accounts between 1980 and 2000, the study examines how the increasing capitalization of the popular music industry altered the relationship between independent and major labels through several developments such as distribution agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and the creation of new independent structures that emulated the major label system. The study concludes by arguing that these new developments, through fundamentally altering the relationship between major and independent labels, shattered the longstanding conceptualization of independent record labels, creating the current need for a more effective mapping of the popular music industry and a reconceptualization of independent record labels.