The indie labels that changed dance music forever

What does it take to build a scene from the ground up? Josephine Cruz dives into the history of independent record labels. 

Record labels don’t just put out music. They build the scenes, the trust, and the infrastructure that allow underground culture to survive.

In our latest video, Josephine Cruz celebrates the story of independent labels around the world, diving into how people who started with a fanzine, a spare room, or a stack of cassettes ended up shaping entire movements: Sub Pop out of Seattle; Warp, XL, and Ninja Tune across the UK; Ghostly starting life in a Michigan dorm room.

Different cities, different sounds, same instinct: champion the overlooked artists, build the community first, and the audience will follow.

Watch the video here.

You can also revisit Josephine’s last piece on how queer spaces built the club culture we love here.