Let me start by saying this. An artist selling their catalogs to an indie label is different from an indie label owning that catalog in perpetuity from the beginning. Big difference. So, now that we've established that, after running an independent label for 18 years, I decided to (for the foreseeable future) not enter into any new "traditional record deals" with any recording artists. I believe that an artist should own their masters unless they decide to sell. An artist should treat their music as a business to ensure that its worth is high enough to have a chance of selling, even if they don't intend to sell.