Record Labels

Michael O'Regan

Michael O'Regan

New member
So how do they work these days?
Theres no money around so they're reluctant to invest in new talent development.
Sign to a minor label and they can't really get your physical product into the bigger record stores, because the HMVs and TOWERs are not willing to stock new artists unless they're guaranteed sales.
Are digital sales routes enough?
It's difficult for new artistes to project ahead and have any goals really, right?
 
I think, through independent labels, and the underground scene, you will always be able to make ends meet (if your a good musician), but make a lot of money, I doubt it, that's only if you are lucky. You can always make your own record label, this will result in less record sales, but full profits, and hey, if you can get distro for your label, than you are set.

popular music is dead country, your best off trying to make a steady income independent.
 
The internet...

...to my knowledge, makes most things artist-direct these days. With sites like CD Baby and other ways of selling you music online, all you really need to do is generate interest. As long as you have fans that are willing to shell out the $ you're asking for for your music, you have all you need. What else did the labels really provide?
 
OneWerd said:
...to my knowledge, makes most things artist-direct these days. With sites like CD Baby and other ways of selling you music online, all you really need to do is generate interest. As long as you have fans that are willing to shell out the $ you're asking for for your music, you have all you need. What else did the labels really provide?
Click to expand...

Promotion, cash advances, physical media distribution.
 
suprstar said:
Would you rather sell 1,000 pies and keep 100%, or sell 50,000 pies and keep 50%?
Click to expand...

Good luck with that. Be Realistic. Anyone would take the latter, but not everyone has the chops to make pies good enough that that many will be sold.

I'm saying that if your a musician, you will always be able to make a living. Not everyone has the potential to be big in the REAL music scene, but most musicians can find their market and thrive on their own.
 
Yeah I know, I'm just kinda contemplating.... But would a label pick you up if you weren't? My last good band ran 1000 copies and we sold over 1/2 of em (and we gave a ton away). If we were on a label I'd expect they would at least double our sales if they were gonna take 1/2. I'm sure it wouldn't be 50x but it'd have to be worth it, otherwise labels would have a reputation of ripping off musicians. o wait....
 
The problem with labels are they aren't focused on the music anymore, it's about looks and teeny bopper status, most of the time bands are pre-fab anyway so it's not like they're looking to sign anyone.

If you want to be heard, looking for label interest is a joke, there are so many tools available to be heard nowadays without having to deal with a label, CD baby, minddawn, tunecore, etc... these are used by not only indie musicians but musicians that at one time had big label deals, there's a few big name artists that are getting their music distributed through tunecore.

I read that Rush is going to release their next album digitally in segments, 2 or 3 songs at a time, they're not going through a label. That's the future of music, labels are a money sucking thing of the past.
 
leaningpine said:
The problem with labels are they aren't focused on the music anymore, it's about looks and teeny bopper status, most of the time bands are pre-fab anyway so it's not like they're looking to sign anyone.

If you want to be heard, looking for label interest is a joke, there are so many tools available to be heard nowadays without having to deal with a label, CD baby, minddawn, tunecore, etc... these are used by not only indie musicians but musicians that at one time had big label deals, there's a few big name artists that are getting their music distributed through tunecore.

I read that Rush is going to release their next album digitally in segments, 2 or 3 songs at a time, they're not going through a label. That's the future of music, labels are a money sucking thing of the past.
Click to expand...

True but rush can do it because they already have their fanbase in place.. It's solid. You hear of tons of mid to large size bands doing this.. Realistically though, a small indie band with no real following can never rely on cd baby or anything like that to generate interest..

I know alot of you think that times have changed but really have they? You still need to 1st of all be a good hardworking band.. you still have to go out and play shit gigs in hopes that the right person will hear you and maybe be able to help you out somehow.

Of course being able to market yourself with some distribution is a bonus that really didn't exist before but unless you have a ton of cash to put into promotion and unlimited time to put into networking there's only so much you can do.
 
.....and a huge loss these days is the advance paid by labels. This used to enable an artiste to give up the day job, concentrate on the music, promotion and touring.
 
there are plenty of folks succeeding at the game in this, what some consider music's darkest hour.

in my opinion the record label must adapt a new model. simply because the world has changed.

kit is available to teenagers to plug into their mac that destroys the best studios the beatles had available back in the 60's. youtube allows for nobodies to be seen by over a million people without doing a single "live" gig, and a 6th grader can set up an album to be sold on itunes and be distributed worldwide.

the label cannot continue doing business the old way.

the new model is 2 dependent customer bases.

a listener base, that needs what they want quickly, and the label needs to sort through thousands of songs and locate the gems and get that listener the gems.

and the artist base. the label needs to treat the artist like a customer, and not an employee. the label provides a service to the artist, and not the other way around.

this model, as i see it, has labels selling advertisement, whilst promoting and selling music in a non-binding arrangement with artists for, oh, no more than 10 cents per track, which is a complete reversal of the old model, where artists got just under 10 cents per track. and if the artist wants to allow 25 different labels to sell their music, so be it.

that's it. no existing label considers this a viable option, but some of the new players do. :)
 
A New Paradigm

I think we are at a crossroads, right now in 2010. A confluence of the model the music industry used for about 50 years collapsing due to applications of the digital age being used to record (going on for about 10 years, now,) distribute and sell music, and the current global economic recession (entering it's 3rd year, at least) has really taken the wind out of the sails of the traditional record labels. I am actually quite optimistic about the long-term results of this, for the smart musician. When the dust settles, I think the new landscape will look something like this (it actually already does look quite like this, so maybe most the dust already has settled.)

Smart Musician (SM) has the chops to make his own music, and uses digital technology to record it, as best his abilities and budget allows. The results are always less than stellar, so SM finds and contracts with...
Smart Engineer (SE), who has the chops and facilities to either clean and dress up SM's recordings, or to do it over without the mistakes and limitations SM had. SE retains rights to his music, and gets a distribution-ready master copy from SE. SE gets paid and moves on to helping the next SM.
SM contracts with Smart Duplicator/Distributor (SDD) who uses digital technology to reproduce SM's music AS IT IS CONSUMED, thus reducing distributing cost and waste. Much of the actual production cost is shifted to the Smart Consumer (SC), but he does not mind, as the real cost to him is much less.

Now, I know, all this is old hat. But wait, there's more...

Smart Label (SL) pops up, as a nurse-maid to the whole process. SL is a clearing- and networking-house, and hooks up SM, SE, SDD and SC so that they all find a good fit between themselves. SL conducts open houses, mixers, parties, releases, other events that SM's, SE's, SDD's and SC's all may attend, to compare notes and find each other. SL is ready and able to do as much or as little (to a point) of the coordination, as SM's, SE's and SDD's choose to contract with SL.

SM gets paid for creating the music, and "cashes the check" when SC buys SM's music on-line.

SE gets paid for recording the music in such a way that it sounds it's best, and is paid by SM, up-front.

SDD gets paid by taking an agreed-upon cut of SM's take.

SC gets her music for about 1/3rd what it would have cost under the old "label" model.

SL gets paid by taking an agreed-upon cut for as much, or as little, as they do.

Now, this model may appear to be like the old label model, but the difference is that it thrives on cooperation, rather than exploitation. Any player makes his or her own decision as to how much control they retain or relinquish. This "democratization of the industry" is ushered in by the digital technology that makes it possible to record, remix, master, reproduce and distribute music on a small, targeted scale not before possible.

Of course, technology is no substitute for hard work- a musician still needs to do the grunt work- still needs to "labor to create," ("Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." -Thomas A. Edison) still needs to work the trenches, etc. I know a woman who mis-read the new paradigm, and thought she could record her own music, throw it up on a few websites, not have to play out to anyone, and the money and influence would just start rolling in. Guess what didn't happen. And, technology can become a distraction, instead of a tool. For instance, I have already spent too much time sitting at this computer, this morning. So, I am OUTTA HEAH, siging off so I can go get some work done...
 
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