The tears rolling down RAYE’s eyes carried the weight of redemption, of the euphoria that comes with winning on your own terms. As she held her No. 1 plaque from the Official Singles Chart for her commercial and viral hit “Escapism”, released in late 2022, emotion took over as the last seven, exhausting years of her life seemingly washed away in her moment of victory. This was quickly followed by a debut at No. 2 on the Official Albums Chart for her first official album, and first as an independent artist, My 21st Century Blues.

Despite writing for the likes of Beyoncé and Rosalía and collaborating with Rudimental and David Guetta, RAYE was never given the green light from her record label, Polydor, whom she had been signed with since 2014, to release her own work, leading to a series of tweets in 2021 in which the Londoner took the label to task on how this had impacted her mental health. Released from her contract soon thereafter, RAYE has spread her wings towards a limitless future. “I don’t think this music would have seen the light of day if I wasn’t independent,” she told NME in January 2023. “It just shows that nothing’s impossible, to be independent and achieve this. We don’t have huge budgets to spend on marketing campaigns; people have genuinely just decided that they’re going to connect to [‘Escapism’] and stream it and like it.” RAYE changed her own course, deciding that going independent, signing with distribution and artist services company Human Re-Sources and leaving the major label infrastructure would set her up for greatness. This shrewdness is now palpable as she starts to fulfil the potential she had shown when she first burst onto the scene over a decade ago.

The independent grind is a noble, humbling one, requiring fierce belief in oneself to connect to audiences through your art in ways that a major label budget can mask through campaigns, brand activations, and label-crafted features to boost one’s popularity. Independence is exactly that: using your own resources to achieve what success means to you. In a musical landscape increasingly reliant on social media as a means of promotion, shouting about yourself and your music through that medium is ground zero to reach your fans, gain new ones and build relationships with industry figures in a field that depends on relationships for advancement—‘playing the game’, as it were, no matter how naturally or unnaturally that may come about.

But, ultimately, that freedom can be interpreted through the eyes of any given artist and seized upon with immediate effect. In grime’s early days, Skepta, Jme and Boy Better Know were the outliers for what organised independence looked like, self-releasing a slew of classic mixtapes and printing the iconic BBK logo on T-shirts worn by fans and supporters across the country. A blueprint had been set, determined by a crew who valued freedom above all, a stance unchanged nearly two decades later as Skep reaches new cultural cache and Jme is a respected MC in his own right.

In the present day, the independent grind is enticing to many. Take one of the UK's biggest artists, Central Cee, who is fiercely independent—distributed through label service ADA—and increasingly has the world gravitated towards his immensely catchy, instantly viral brand of drill music. Setting his stool out on 2020 track “Pinging (6 Figures)”, where he rapped, “Take that risk and go independent / I just turned down six figures (it’s different),” Cench has leveraged his music—sampling everyone from Gwen Stefani to PinkPantheress—and gargantuan social following with an international approach, building relationships with artists across Europe and the States and doing shows everywhere that have opened the door for visibility outside of the UK. This powered his 2022 mixtape, 23, to reach No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, while “Doja” hit No. 2 and kept his name on the lips of everyone from Drake to Coi Leray. It’s a buzz that Cench wholly dictates and profits from, due to being able to control his own fate.

Think of some of UK rap’s success stories of 2021-22 and independence is a running theme. North-West Londoner Knucks wowed audiences with his Alpha Place mixtape, released through his creative collective and label No Days Off; road rap veteran Rimzee self-funded the release and promo of mixtape Cold Feet last year via his own property portfolio, from rental homes to restaurants; Little Simz, signed to independent record label AWAL, is a tour de force due to an incredible catalogue of albums since 2019’s Grey Area. Meanwhile, AJ Tracey, one of the most visible in the game, has been independent his entire career, with a double-platinum single in “Ladbroke Grove” and two albums cracking the top three of the UK Albums Chart for his troubles. Further underground, grime savant Manga Saint Hilaire continues to build a consistent self-released catalogue and personable social media presence, while the likes of Louis Culture, Lord Apex, Joe James, ENNY and countless more are carving out creative paths that independence permits, unburdened by label politics and emboldened by loyal fans.

Of course, being independent isn’t made for everyone, for as much as the above is enticing to some, it may prove too daunting for others. Learning about the music business and how it ticks was not in the plan for many musicians coming up and getting bogged down in the bureaucracy may hamper creative expression. The structure of a record label, with a limitless budget, a black book of contacts that can take your music to new territories and a handsome advance upon signing a contract, is almost too tough to turn down, especially for an artist from an underprivileged background who needs income to take care of their people. That is perhaps the trap young artists fall into when signing pen to paper on a label contract, but the financial security that it brings—even if fleeting—is almost indescribable. Financial freedom is not promised for independent artists, even for those who have seemingly “blown”. For all of Little Simz’s incredible achievements over the last 24 months, she posted of her inability to tour the U.S. just last year. So while her creativity has brought her to the dance, it is finances that are somewhat preventing it from shining brighter.

Music itself is a dying commodity, in that sales have steadily declined since the turn of the millennium, which may leave some indie artists unable to fund the full range of their endeavours—from hiring a creative and marketing team to a booking agent, managers and lawyers. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly and as with many of life’s pressing issues, there is a salient, and sometimes scary, risk involved. But the reward could be substantial. Independence isn’t defined solely by releasing music when you want—it’s a mindset that grows along with you, crafts your ideas, and allows you to dream big. It’s setting a precedent for the kind of artist you want to be. Given the success of UK artists preaching for the cause in today’s game, there has probably never been a better time to trust in yourself and take on the industry with your own rulebook.