Unsigned artist

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Unsigned artist" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

An unsigned artist, unsigned band or independent artist is a musician or musical group not under a contract with a record label. The terms are used in the music industry as a marketing technique. Bands that release their own material on self-published CDs can also be considered unsigned bands. Often unsigned bands primarily exist to perform at concerts.

In more recent years, the Internet has helped promote the music of unsigned bands. Artists often post their music as MP3s on websites like blogs, digital stores and other streaming platforms online for enhanced promotion.^[1]

In 2016, the Unsigned Music Awards was established in the UK as the first ever televised international awards ceremony to champion artists without the backing of a record label.