Gabriel Hubert, horn player with Damon Albarn’s favourite street-jazz collective, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, speaks with the unashamed zeal of a convert: “Every musician needs to beat a path to independence. You’ve got to own the music you make.” An advocate of not signing your life away to a record label, he is, nevertheless, gearing up for the release of a compilation that features his band’s frenetic breed of jazz, fresh from the streets of south-side Chicago, alongside tracks by Lou Reed and Massive Attack. The lineup has all the cachet of a “major label”, but this release has the stamp of an independent boutique imprint. It has been set up by the Dutch denim brand G-Star, for release later this summer.

“Record deals don’t work for musicians like us,” Hubert says. “Being with a brand, we get to tour the world, make connections and grow our own business - without selling the rights to our music for a bowl of chicken soup and a promise.”

Hypnotic Brass are not alone in seeking the patronage of a brand. As the music business undergoes its remake/remodel, and business pages debate which one of DRM-free, subscription, pay-per-listen, embedded advertising and the 360 deal will save the balance sheets of the labels, brands are marching unrepentantly into what was once the majors’ heartland.

From boutique favourites such as Agent Provocateur and Joe Bloggs to icons of the global hyper-mall such as Diesel, Yahoo!, Audi and Coca-Cola, brands have awoken to music’s potential as a powerful communication tool, and a content gold rush is on. Under the “lifestyle” umbrella, household names are seeking out, signing and promoting music. And far from heralding a sellout, taking the corporate shilling may be the smartest career move a struggling artist can make. With unsigned MySpace hopefuls such as the singer-songwriter Tom Glynn partnering Caffè Nero for instore music and branded CDs, and big-name acts such as Madonna, Annie Lennox and Paul McCartney serving divorce proceedings on their labels as they “consider their commercial options”, brands are invading the ground left by the labels’ retreat.

“There’s no doubt we are at a crossroads,” says Steve Levine, producer of Culture Club and a spokesman for artists’ issues with the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters. Having consulted on brand-related music projects, he has seen a marked change in musicians’ attitudes: “It’s as if we’ve suddenly become aware of the truth behind the smoke and mirrors of the record deal. Most artists now understand how the business works and who their fans are. That is always going to be valuable to a brand. It’s certainly a freer, more equal relationship. Record companies have to own everything, because their whole model is based on selling records - ‘Is it a hit, will it make us our money back?’ If brands do nothing other than free musicians from the tyranny of needing a radio-friendly smash to have a career, it has to be a positive.”

It isn’t just financial necessity that is driving artists into the arms of some of our favourite household names. Joe Public’s relationship with brands has also shifted: we love them, and we don’t much care that they are colonising our lives. Marketing gurus have a term for it. According to them, we are all “cheerfully commercial” now. Yet, despite this, the dwindling budgets and the brutal roster-cleansing, the industry still appeared shocked when the dance duo Groove Armada gave into the siren call of Bacardi last month.

Their decision to leave Sony BMG and sign with the drinks giant sent a clear message to labels and brands alike that Bacardi saw a big future in taking its partnership with music beyond mere sponsorship. The one-year deal has the drinks giant releasing the band’s music through its own label and download platforms, as well as paying for a series of “parties” that GA will curate and headline.

“It feels very natural,” says Tom Findlay, one half of the dance duo. “Bacardi have a strong heritage in dance and putting on parties, and so do we. They’re offering a decent sum of money, we get to play in places we would not normally get to, and we keep the copyright in our recordings.”

What of the accusation that they have sold out? It seems everyone is too busy being “cheerfully commercial” to worry. “With sponsorship now such an essential part of the festival scene, it’s something I’m relatively comfortable with,” Findlay says.

The role of brand as benefactor and the structural changes in the music business reflect changes in how we perceive the value of music. The internet will eventually ensure that recorded music is largely free. Meanwhile, the emotional worth of music that makes up our personal soundtracks is as strong as ever. As the dust settles, managers, lawyers and producers will work with brands to bring new artists into the limelight.

Tim Parry, of Biglife, managers of the Verve, Klaxons and Badly Drawn Boy, sees the entry of brands into the fray as exciting, though yet to reach its full potential. “Anyone with a fairer, more interesting approach is going to get our attention,” he says. “But the ideas most brands have are pretty uninspiring. It’s still a buyer’s market out there, so there’s not a lot of incentive to think of creative ways for brands and artists to work together.”

To bridge this gap, a raft of specialist agencies has grown up, helping brands to play a more credible role in the music world.

Dan Dunbar, creative partner at the Sync Agency, in London, has sourced music for hundreds of well-known campaigns, including M&S and Vodafone. He is always mindful of finding a natural fit between brand and band: “Music is a powerful way of telling people what you’re about. Things are developing fast, and brands are really starting to think about how they sound and how they want to sound. Forward-looking brands must think about an approach that works in the long term – the right kind of music literally gives a brand a voice.”

Shubhankar Ray, who is G-Star’s man with the brand plan, sums up the current state of the union between brand and band.

“Brands can still be heavy-handed,” he says. “They wade in, buy up music and stick logos everywhere. It has to be more subtle if it’s going to work, because we’re all more sophisticated now.

“What they should do is take a step back and think about what they want to say and how music will help them say it.” Saying it with music, however, certainly seems to be the way of the future.

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