There are still big independents left. (Score 1)

But something happened: the big labels found out about these small labels, thought they could produce more pablum, and bought most of them out. Here are some labels that do quite well for their rosters: Kill Rock Stars, K, Matador, Merge, Touch and Go, and more... And bands like Sleater-Kinney (kill rock stars) or Belle and Sebastian aren't exactly starving either. Sleater Kinney makes a guarentee of $3000 each show, and sells 100,000 of each record they put out. It's also not uncommon for bands on above labels to sell 6,000 to 8,000. So before you call it a night, don't count the little guy out yet.