Jacob Ganz

In 1989, two members of the rock band Superchunk launched a tiny record label. Twenty years later, amid the struggles of the music industry at large, Merge has become one of the most respected and successful companies in the business.

Forty-five years after the debut of Terry Riley's IN C, the composer and his son, guitarist Gyan Riley, talk about performing the minimalist classic together.

In Rainbows, Radiohead's first album since 2005, will appear online Oct. 10, with a specially-boxed CD/LP set to follow in December. The band is working without a label and the album will debut on the Radiohead Web site.

In the last six months, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams hasn't released a new record. This may not seem remarkable, but last year Adams put out three CDs in the space of seven months. He has recently been in New York, preparing his next album.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! is but one of scores of bands making music without the help a record label, pressing CDs themselves and selling them at concerts and on the Internet.