Steve, to answer your question, I don't think I meant either/or necessarily (i.e. with 'label' or without). The internet kind of blurs the lines a little. My cousin for example has a band, plays gigs and has made a CD but he has no label. Yet with Myspace, Facebook etc. he can seem much more prominent than he might seem and attract serious attention (for example he just got written up on the MuchMusic website). A label-less musician with a knack for self-promotion can attract a lot of attention on the internet music scene.
Now, you might argue that there has been quality control even for something like his band because someone has paid him for gigs. But I get you I could find a few people to read my stuff if I wanted to, and write blurbs for me, and you'd never know the difference. I could leverage my connection at Teleread, or my past as a journalist (where people *did* pay me for my writing) and develop an on-line presence. The kid who wrote Eragon sold the books out of his parents car for a couple years before he picked up the big contract. It can be done, but you need to have a knack for self-promotion to get the same legitimacy that you'd get from having a publishing contract. So is it that 'indie writers' have not yet developed this knack, or is it that they just aren't plain good enough for the knack to matter even if they did have it? I suppose that, as with any equation, you'll find some who fall on either side
