Late last week, Billboard reported that Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) has acquired online retailer Insound.com. The move was made by ADA to expand its digital sales by using Insound as a "back-end" for its own clients to create their own online stores. Insound will continue to operate under co-founder Matt Wishnow, according to reports, but the longterm stakes and implications are at this point left to speculation.
Originally created in the early ‘90s by Warner Music Group and Sub Pop, ADA distributes music for independent labels such as Merge, Barsuk, and Secretly Canadian, as well as for some major-owned labels like Atlantic and Nonesuch. ADA also famously distributes music for the label-less Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. It is considered in the industry as an "indie" distribution company, but since it is owned by major music group WMG -- much in the same way as EMI's Caroline Distribution, Sony BMG's RED, and Universal's Fontana -- the hazy, theoretical divide between independent and major is most evidently revealed here.
