Discuss with reasons and examples.

It seems to me that in an age of both digital music and a huge number of small-scale indie labels, whether a band is signed or not is not really an appropriate measuring stick for determining a band's level of success (one could be a band doing well but holding off for the right offer or one could be a band that literally one person likes but that person happens to run a label).

It seems to me the idea of talking about 'signed' or 'unsigned' bands conforms to the old industry standard that the record deal is the be-all and end-all of everything, which isn't really the case nowadays.