At a time when the music industry has insistently sold the idea of the hyper-individualistic solo creative entrepreneur as the model independent artist—where every artist is meant to act like the CEO of their own little media empire—there’s power in collectives of artists pushing back, and asserting that true independence comes from working together with the people in your community to build an alternative. “The music industry is not going to help musicians,” Vandermark concluded. “It’s going to come down to us, but they’ll do everything they can to break us.”
