What is the Financial impact of independent artists/labels in the
music industry.  (For example: if the music industry is a 1 billion
dollar business, how much of it is made up by the independent artists
and labels? $150

Global music sales in 2003 were 
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/statistics/worldsales.html
The global music market was worth $US32 billion* (28.5 billion Euros)
with total unit sales (including music video) of 2.7 billion in 2003.

Wikipedia breaks down the market share of record labels here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_record_labels

    * Universal Music Group including PolyGram ? 21.1%
    * Sony Music ? 17.4%
    * EMI ? 14.1%
    * Warner Music Group ? 13.4%
    * BMG ? 11.4%
    * independent labels ? 22.6%

This was according to the MEI World Report 2000.

Updated information for 2005 is available from the IFPI, the
International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers:

"Universal maintains its position as the world's biggest recording
company, with a 25.5% share of the world market. Sony BMG is next with
a 21.5% share followed by EMI at 13.4% and Warner at 11.3%. The
independent sector holds steady with a 28.4% global share. National
and regional market share information is also available."

The independent labels' market share has gone up six percent in five
years, and that could be due to digital downloads.

In February 2006, eMusic.com, which has had over 45 million downloads
of independent music in four years of existence, began submitting its
sales to SoundScan, which should increase the percentage of digital
sales attributed to independent musicians.  Prior to that, independent
musicians were thought to be undercounted in sales figures.


Sources:
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/PRESS/20060119.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_record_labels
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/publications/rin_order.html

If you need any additional help or clarification, I'll be glad to help!

--keystroke-ga