Indie labels challenge majors

Bjork is one of independent music's stars

UK independent record labels with acts including Stereophonics, Bjork and Tom Jones have teamed up with foreign counterparts to challenge the dominance of major labels.

Craig David's record company is a member of AIM

UK trade group the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and similar bodies in Australia and Canada have come together to form the World Independence Network (WIN).

Independent groups in the United States and Europe have also agreed to join, AIM says.

The new group has annual sales of more than £5bn, with record labels that count for 25% of worldwide record sales.

WIN hopes to act as a "virtual major" with an initial purpose of making it easier for member labels to communicate and deal with each other.

Information on labels, industry statistics, charts, press, websites and events will be provided to members - but the long-term goals are more ambitious.

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"We are building a structure to support independents around the world, helping them to overcome the many commercial hurdles that exist when developing international business," said AIM chief executive Alison Wenham.

AIM represents 600 independent labels in the UK with artists including Badly Drawn Boy, Basement Jaxx, The White Stripes, Garbage, Moby, Depeche Mode, Suede, The Strokes and Craig David.

It has now joined forces with the Canadian Independent Record Production Association (Cipra) and Australia's Association of Independent Record Labels (AIR).

Useful

"Our members have to compete with the majors around the world, so giving them access to the quality of information an international major might expect is crucial," said Air's executive officer Julie Owens.

Cipra's president, Brian Chater, said many Canadian labels needed help to sell records outside their own country.

"We believe that this network will give them more power and more useful resources," he said.

The US equivalent, the Association for Independent Music, and Europe's Impala were committed to joining, AIM said.