THE last time Paul Noonan spoke to The Ticket, the Bell X1 singer knew his band's relationship with their major label paymasters was on the line. This was a little before the band released Flock, their third album for Island Records.

"We are very aware of the fact that if we don't have a successful record this time around, we won't have a record deal," Noonan admitted in that interview.

Released in Ireland in October 2005, Flock is still in the Irish Top 40 album charts and has notched up more than 60,000 sales here. The band have gone from playing mid-sized venues to headlining outdoor shows. This summer, they will play major events at Malahide Castle in Dublin and in a big tent in Cork.

It looks like Flock has been a successful record for the band. Nevertheless, they are about to part ways with their label Island Records in the coming weeks.

It's not quite clear who is doing the jumping and who is doing the dropping. What is crystal clear, though, is that 60,000 Irish sales are not enough for a major label to continue supporting a band who are facing their fourth album and who have yet to make an impact abroad.

Bell X1 are not the only Irish band who are saying goodbye to their label in 2007. At least three other domestic acts have parted from their labels since December and more are sure to follow. Aside from U2 and Snow Patrol, every other Irish act signed to a major label is fair game when the bean counters run the rule over the income and expenditure figures.

Such "downsizing" is in part attributable to the unprecedented turmoil which the record industry is experiencing on every front. The sector's troubles began about a decade ago when labels failed to engage with changes in technology.

By refusing to take steps then to deal with how technological advances and, to an extent, telecommunications companies were changing the rules of engagement, the record industry as good as lost the war at its very outset.

Today, CD sales are in a right old state, and unrealistic sales targets are foisted on bands for their debut albums. Any old-school development routes have been abandoned.

Label executives spend more effort in re-enacting unwinnable battles over Digital Rights Management encryptions than in trying to envisage a viable business model for five years from now. The bold statistic remains: 90 per cent of acts signed to majors don't turn a profit.

As for the music, do you really think any of the decision-makers at major labels care one damn iota about the music? In some ways, Bell X1 may find themselves better off out of that ugly scene.

After all, the people who purchased Flock mostly don't care or even know what label that album is on. They bought it because they liked Rocky Took A Lover or Flame or Bad Skin Day when they heard these tunes on the radio. People will still seek to listen to and purchase music if it appeals to them on this emotive level.

But so far for Bell X1, that has happened only in Ireland. Abroad, they have yet to sell significant volumes of records. You could argue that this is the label's fault (they might have capitalised more on Bell X1's placement on The OC, for instance), but the label can also point to a strong British promotional and marketing campaign for Flock last year. The non-Irish public didn't warm to Bell X1 because they just don't know enough about them.

Other labels will throw their hats into the ring now for the band's signature, but Bell X1 should use a forthcoming European tour with The Frames to ask Glen Hansard and friends some probing questions about how Irish self-sufficiency can be harnessed for international gains. Now, there's a future-proof business model.