Francis and the Lights, a New York based band (whose music is best heard or seen than described – it’s really quite special) did something very intriguing recently. Feeling no pressure to sign to a record label, who may wish to exert external control over their creations, they decided to incorporate themselves into a company. They then raised $100,000 from the normative music company, as an investment. This move was not so much an alternative to signing a record deal, more a way of orientating themselves towards their future development.

The partnership between Normative and Francis and the Light reflects a joint understanding of the place of independent music, and a shared regard for music as an art form not open to compromise. The promise of independent music, says Jake Lodwick, the manager of Normative, is that of “unmolested artistic integrity”. This art begins with a vision, a “spark in the musicians mind” and must be “absolutely realized, irrespective of cost“. Such dedication to a pure aesthetic ideal is surely something to be commended on both sides, especially in the age of mechanical reproduction and the homogenizing effects of the culture industry.

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