The woman whose introspective ivory-tinkling launched a thousand  Lilith Fair lasses has announced that after 16 years of major-label servitude (initially with Atlantic) she's breaking the shackles and leaving Epic Records to go the indie route.

Her manager, John Witherspoon, told Billboard that Amos is "devising new and exciting ways of getting her music to the masses without the boundaries and limitations of the major music companies." It's unclear how much of this decision has to do with the sickly scent of death emanating from the offices of every major music company's offices these days and how much has to do with the fact that each of Amos' last two albums for Epic has racked up roughly half the sales of its predecessor (not that the two are mutually exclusive). In any case, it has not yet been announced where Amos' next album will make its home. Did somebody say "Starbucks?"