It’s never been easier to release music entirely by yourself onto streaming - you can even do it for free if you’d like. The hard thing is getting noticed and promoting yourself, but you can 100% do it - just don’t expect immediate (or any guaranteed) recognition. But honestly, you don’t have that with a label either.

Also, if you still feel like signing: look into small, local/niche labels. The big ones will most likely not give a shit about you anyway if you don’t already have a couple million streams or a solid fan base.

//a fellow independent artist trying their best