
Originally Posted by
djron91
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I come from the dance music world which is experiencing a DIY phenomenon as well. If you go back 10 years, the cost of equipment was really high - and then record labels exercised the role of quality control, acting as a filter to what came out on the market. With music production software being so cheap - everyone is a producer and the amount of tracks being released to beatport is overwhelming. Where as I used to listen to 10 tracks and buy/love 4-5 of them - that ration is now 1 or 2.
In the fragrance world, the world of niche/independent perfumers enables a lot of people to put their fragrances on the market - etsy is the market place that anyone can put their scents on. Then stores like indiescent, min, aedes act as a filter.
For the past year, I've been enjoying exploring independent perfumers who are free from major market restraints (like major labels in the dance music world) and are able to be more creative/out there. Off the top of my head - Slumberhouse, Sweet Anthem, Providence Perfume and Kerosene come to mind.
One thing I will say - if you are looking at economics - I am tempted to say that the value of aromachemicals/ingredients used in independent scents are higher than those used in mainstream/designer scents. For example, when I smell Slumberhouse Norne - I imagine that if the same scent was released mainstream or from a larger niche house - it would be priced 4-5x more.