Ani Difranco doing it her way

Difranco says part of the reason she went independent was because she's not interested in "making money over making art"

(CNN) -- Forget Palm Pilots, coifed hairdos, pressed suits, and fancy publicity bashes. Ani Difranco runs business differently. She drives to a bar with her guitar in the trunk and performs in front of a smoky crowd.

That's how the singer/songwriter from Buffalo, New York, got her independent record label "Righteous Babe Records" off the ground, which in turn launched her music career. Difranco says she was determined to steer clear of what she sees is a corporate, monopolized music industry.

"I think it's an interesting fact that you can create an independent means of existing without the music industry and the Internet is not even an essential key," she says. "Mostly leaving your house and driving around and playing music in rooms for people is the key."

Difranco's business started in 1990 when the then-20 year-old decided to follow other DIY -- or do-it-yourself -- artists and release her first album on her own. Borrowing money from friends to record it, she embarked on a whirlwind tour of American college campuses and bars, selling her self-titled album at shows and from the trunk of her hand-painted car.

To her, being the master of her domain enables her to maintain complete creative control of her alternative rock/folk style. Her lyrics are deeply introspective, very political and embrace social issues like the drug war and gun violence.

AUDIO Difranco performing "Two Little Girls" in Burlington, Vermont, last October AIFF or WAV sound Difranco on artistic control AIFF or WAV sound Difranco on turning down record deals AIFF or WAV sound

"The whole idea about not signing with a record company was about not participating in a corporate system which I think homogenizes music, commercializes it, co-opts it," she says. "It sucks the life out of (culture), takes the power of it away from the people who made it and sells it as a commodity."

Nevertheless, the talented musician has had her fair share of offers from big record companies. At one point she had a contract in her hand ready to sign, but after reading through its terms decided she "didn't think it was cool" and that solo was the only way to go.

Difranco has come a long way since RBR's inception. She now performs at larger venues and has released 16 albums, selling over 3 million copies. Her songs have featured on several film soundtracks including "The Jackal" (1997) and "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997), for which she recorded a version of Dusty Springfield's "Wishing and Hoping."

In 1996 her album "Dilate" made it to the top 100 of the Billboard charts and her April double-album release "Revelling/Reckoning" entered at No. 50. Last week she was the top-selling independent artist on the charts.

All this from a woman whose record label got its official Web site up and running just a month ago -- six years after other bands started doing business on the Internet. Difranco has relied heavily on selling her merchandise and albums the old fashioned way -- mail order service.

It's worked just fine. Business, you could say, is booming.

Here's what Difranco had to say about her music when World Beat recently caught up with her.

World Beat: What motivated you to start your own label?

Difranco: Well I was 18 and I was playing around bars in Buffalo for years. I had a band since I was 16 and I was a little 'ol chick on the scene! People started coming to my little shows in bars and asking if I had a tape to sell. So finally I had a lot of songs and I'd been around for a few years and I thought "OK, well, I guess I should make a tape." And I guess I was supposed to shop around for a record deal and solicit some corporation to help me, but it occurred to me -- as it occurs to so many people -- (that) I can just do that. It's not a very complicated, nor does it have to be a very expensive thing.

Difranco's music contains strong social messages and she perceives the stage as a "fertile ground to do social work"

World Beat: You write a lot about personal experiences. What goes into writing about personal experience for you?

Difranco: Well you know, personal experiences really are the most compelling stuff. In fact all my songs are about personal experiences. Some of them I think people perceive as being more overtly political but to me they're all personal. They're some very primary connections in my mind between the personal and the political and when I write about a social dynamic it's always from my position in it, or my involvement. You know -- life moving through the world as a woman, as an American, a white person at the turn of the century.

World Beat: What motivates you to address social issues in your music?

Difranco: For me I think a social issue I address in my song is one I've internalized as something. It's got to be something I have an emotional connection with. I'm not a traditional folk singer in that way in that I sit down to write a song about, you know, racism or about sexism or about some sort of media event. I don't have that kind of discipline or that kind of tragedy going in my writings.

There are some social issues that are a part of my consciousness, a part of my dreams, a part of my imagination, you know. When I write about something outside of myself it's also because it's inside me too.

World Beat: Do you feel musicians have a responsibility to address social issues in their music?

Difranco: Absolutely. I think that every human being has a responsibility to address social issues in whatever they do, and not just musicians. I think that it's important that we are aware of each other and that we care about things outside of ourselves. I think that I have no more or less responsibility than any other human being but I have an opportunity. I have a stage and I have a microphone and I have a certain number of unwitting people who are listening at any given time and so I have a great opportunity to express social concerns, which I think makes it very fertile ground to do social work.

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