Gareth Main started his interest in the music industry in the late 1980s when he first got his toddler hands on a copy of Jive Bunny and the Mastermixer’s seminal debut LP Jive Bunny: The Album.

From there he grew up through Britpop and multiple revivals of genres that should have long since been buried to turn up in early 2007 with a concept for a new additional to the music magazine market: Bearded.

Bearded was born out of Gareth’s obsession and love for independent music, as well as his frustrations of the poor level of coverage that small independent labels generate compared to their major label counterparts. From there he studied the independent sector more and talked to smaller and smaller independent labels, becoming more fascinated by the motivation behind these unworkable businesses and disappointed by the coverage and knowledge of this sector of the world’s largest industry along the way.

Gareth spends his time talking about the independent music industry and is currently researching and writing his first study into the industry: What makes Independent labels Independent?: The Structure of the modern day music industry.

If you wish to make a donation towards Gareth’s research, please use the link on the left-hand side of the page.