The "underground" is still trying to operate as an underground, even though it has too much
straight up economic activity to still operate under that system. The advantages to independent labels, in my opinion is that "experimental" or cutting edge
ideas (even in something like club orientated house) can be tried out and released without
worrying about recouping a huge investment. The scale is smaller, the time frame for
release is shorter, the percentage of money returned to the artist is higher. Advertising is
small or non-existent. In a small operation you have nearly complete control over most aspects of what you are
doing. The act of music is not merely the sounds on the record, it includes how those sounds
are transmitted to the world. The decision as to how a record is released (packaging,
marketing, promotion) profoundly affects the experience of that record for everyone. Major labels, in my current opinion, are not nearly as evil or short-sighted as they used to
be. Some areas of culture, should you wish to get involved with those areas, can only be
accessed through major label involvement. Those channels of media, distribution and retail
are pretty rigidly controlled. You need a bigger scale of money and business contacts to
traverse those channels, simple fact of life. My own theory is that most people are basically
dumb, so expect that to sell things to those people, you are going to have go through a lot
of dumb shit. However, large and major labels have gotten fairly good at selling stuff to the
people in the areas between the esoteric-underground-hipsterz and the
masses-of-bland-stupidity-macarena-spice-girlz. Over the decades, some surprisingly
strange records have been released by majors. But dealing with the mob does have its
consequences. Check out the Negativland vs. U2's record company fiasco.