What an independent record label actually does
An independent record label is a record company that operates outside the majors.
An independent record label is a company that produces, records, releases, promotes and distributes recorded music while remaining financially, editorially and commercially autonomous from the three global majors — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
An independent label decides for itself what to release, with no group-level filters or overriding commercial priorities. It often invests in niche artists (jazz, adventurous singer-songwriters, regional music, alternative rock) that the majors regard as unprofitable, and it deals directly with its roster without catalogue intermediaries.
Mhodì Music Company is an Italian independent record label founded on 6 September 2008 in Catania, Sicily, by Giuseppe Strazzeri. Entirely Italian-owned, based in Sicily, artistically and financially independent. The group operates through four genre-focused sub-labels.
Independent label vs major: what really changes
Majors (Universal, Sony, Warner)
- International shareholder capital, publicly traded multinationals.
- Global catalogues with thousands of artists per group.
- Priority to projects with mass-market commercial potential.
- Multiple internal filters before a contract is signed.
- Global marketing and PR structures, presence in every market.
Independent label
- Independent capital, often with a founder-owner.
- Smaller catalogues, curated with artistic care.
- Investment in niches, musical identities, research.
- Direct, personal relationship with the artists on the roster.
- More artistic freedom, more risk, fewer commercial filters.
Mhodì Music Company belongs to the second category. Its four sub-labels (Mhodì Records for pop and singer-songwriters, Anaglyphos for jazz and classical, Comusì for music in the Sicilian language, d00b for rock and alternative) each work as a genre boutique within a single independent group.
What a record label actually does
A&R and scouting
Finding, assessing and developing new artists. Mhodì receives submissions through its dedicated portal.
Discover scouting →Production and mastering
Executive production, funding and supervision of recordings, final mastering for distribution.
Digital distribution
Delivering masters to the DSPs (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music). Mhodì uses You Independent as its distributor.
Discover You Independent →Marketing and promotion
Launches, press releases, PR, digital campaigns, relations with Italian music media.
News from the catalogue →Master rights management
Administering rights in the recordings and collecting income from streaming, radio and sync.
Publishing
When integrated, the label also manages the compositions: SIAE registration, sync licensing, international sub-publishing.
Go to publishing →Label and publisher: two roles, two streams of rights
A single song generates two separate streams of rights: the master (the sound recording, owned by the label that funded it) and the composition (the music and lyrics, owned by the songwriter and their publisher). The two streams generate independent royalties (mechanical, performance, synchronisation) that are collected and paid out separately.
Mhodì Music Company works on both sides:
- As a record label through its four genre sub-labels (Mhodì Records, Anaglyphos, Comusì, d00b).
- As a music publisher with IPI code
01002385116and SIAE code284774.
The two roles are not bundled: an artist or songwriter can sign with Mhodì as a label, as a publisher, or in both capacities. Mhodì also acts as a sub-publisher for foreign publishers in the Italian territory.
Mhodì Music Company as an independent label
Mhodì illustrates the model of the contemporary Italian independent label: a multi-genre boutique with four distinct sub-label identities instead of one flat catalogue, and a dual nature as both label and publisher.
Anaglyphos Records, the jazz sub-label, was founded in 1996 by Sicilian double bassist Nello Toscano and acquired by Mhodì in 2022. Its catalogue runs to more than forty albums with international names (Paolo Fresu, Rita Marcotulli, Danilo Rea, Maurizio Giammarco, Stjepko Gut, Adam Nussbaum, Billy Hart) and a dedicated physical series, Jazzos.
Mhodì Records has distributed significant international projects in Italy: Strange as Angels: Chrystabell Sings The Cure by Marc Collin (Nouvelle Vague) with Chrystabell (2021, rated 7/10 by OndaRock and three stars by il manifesto), and Une Tahitienne à Paris by Mareva Galanter feat. Robbie Williams (2023). Since 2025 it has brought Gerardina Trovato (Sanremo 1993) back to activity with the single Credo nei Miracoli.
Comusì, launched on 31 January 2024, is the first Italian label systematically dedicated to music in the Sicilian language on digital platforms, in talks with Spotify for a dedicated editorial playlist. d00b covers rock and alternative.
The model combines the curation of a boutique with the reach of a group: each sub-label is specialised, but all share the same editorial, distribution and publishing structure.