Independent labels have a long history of promoting developments in popular music, stretching back to the post-war period in the United States, with labels such as Sun Records.
In the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s, the major record companies had so much power that independent labels struggled to become established. Several British producers and artists launched independent labels as outlets for their work and artists they liked, but the majority failed as commercial ventures or was swallowed up by the majors.
The punk rock era saw a plethora of independent labels. The UK Indie Chart, was first compiled in 1980, and independent distribution became better organized from the late 1970s onwards.