The argument for halting the label hunt and going rogue (as an artist) is stronger than ever. These days, it’s not just about retaining control of your vision, it’s about maintaining your sense of self, about flexing your autonomy to the maximum degree. The process isn’t always easy – it requires money and exposure, a multitude of failed attempts – but it’s more than possible as badass companies like TuneCore emerge to streamline artist-centered distribution, publishing, and career development. Don’t take our word for it: Check out these 5 independent artists looking to make waves in 2025.
1. Abigail Osborn
Sonically, Abigail Osborn taps into the same bare-naked, pop-infused honesty that catapulted Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour to the stars. Even some of her vocal inflections are similar. But where Rodrigo allows her ripened contempt to shine through, Osborne remains unabashedly youthful. The Nashville, Tennessee-based artist doesn’t mince her words or work heavily with muddied metaphor. Instead, she’s specific – straightforward – in an impassioned, daydreamy kind of way. That’s to say, her most popular songs play-out like candid diary-entries atop angelic melodies. Consistently touching on items of clothing – jeans, pockets, sweaters – but carefully eschewing what’s beneath them, Osborne posits herself as both the golden covergirl and the flit-footed page-flipper of a post-teen magazine. The multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter is readying for a spring tour and a new project this summer as her well-crafted catalog accrues 5 million streams to date.
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2. K. Forest
K. Forest’s current Instagram pfp boasts a blue-tinted flick of a shirtless Tupac puffing pensively on a cigar. While the Toronto, Ontario-born artist isn’t a gangster rapper by most stretches of the imagination, there’s an essence present in the visual that also emanates from his catalog – a smooth self-assuredness that swirls and envelopes like smoke. Likely to arise from a playlist chocked full of tracks like The Weeknd’s “Wicked Games,” K. Forest’s music is primed for late-night freeway flying, turning street lights and speed signs into electric blurs on the way to nowhere. On the other hand, his body of work conjures an equally sensual atmosphere, like fantasizing about bed sheets while still on the dance floor. Intent on remaining independent, K. Forest has already reached incredible heights, gaining well over 75 million streams across all streaming platforms and working with the likes of OVO and Netflix.
3. Taipei Houston
Taipei Houston’s music offers the sensation of occurring within the body, as opposed to around the ears, similar to a possession. It’s proud and pulsing with an electricity that jolts each track – and the listener by proxy – like a downed power line. Decidedly tempestuous yet delivered with impeccable composition, the LA-based trio’s catalog is unrelenting both in its entertainment and energy. A close cousin to garage rock and punk, Taipei Houston’s sound is enigmatic to a degree – perhaps because it satisfies so many deficiencies all at once: heavy-rhythm, heart-murmuring volume, sticky lyrics, crisp & crunchy instrumentation, unhinged insurgency, fervid sentiment. Independently, they managed to snag a spot supporting the Foo Fighters, Muse, and the Melvins back in 2023 and are now preparing to release their Sophomore EP, Savage Joy, in the spring of 2025.
4. The Droptines
Even if all you’ve ever known is the big city, The Droptines’ music will make you long for a glass of whiskey on the rickety wooden porch of your countrystead. Their sound is visceral, palpable, nearly painful in the way it stirs a dormant aching in the soul, a longing for something more. There’s both wisdom and agony in the vocals as they drawl across the soaring, honest instrumentation. Strangely, there’s a tinge of The Growlers and Kings of Leon intertwined with the band’s alt-country approach, an amalgamation of ruffian crassness and cowboy despondency tied together by intimate storytelling. Playing over 150 shows in 2024, The Droptines are no stranger to getting shit done. As they gear up to support Shane Smith and the Saints, Whiskey Myers, American Aquarium, and Wyatt Flores later this year, they maintain their distinctive independence both as a band and in their methodology.
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