So what is a record label?  Most releases have them, if only because plants usually required identifying information on the printed label accompanying the recording.  For many recordings, the label was no more than a form filled out: a record company and artist name, along with a graphic scheme, song titles, and release numbers.

More broadly, a record label is a business venture created to achieve commercial success for its artists, that might include marketing, public relations, distribution to wholesalers and stores, and promotion to radio and reviewers.  Today, “record label” is more likely to describe the business venture rather than the perfunctory printed label, but the latter is nonetheless an important identifying characteristic of any recording.

Record labels listed here are, or were, based in Indiana and released records by two or more artists.  While an arbitrary and flawed method, it attempts to distinguish the business venture from the single artist label.

Many Indiana releases were on labels based outside the state boundaries.  At this time these labels are not listed here but can be referenced in the discographies of the individual artists, as can the one-artist labels based in Indiana.