Home Recording Label, idea

F

FredFredrickson

New member
As a home recording musician with a certified 2 sales on cdbaby, I am intimately familiar with how difficult getting exposure is.

I've spent countless hours and one heck of a lot of money trying to get my music out there for the past few months.. Specifically to gain fans- not necessarily to make sales, but just to get the music out there.

I've noticed in this forum at least one member attempting a group Last.Fm station, and that's a good start.

But I'm wondering if there's a way to combine our powers to create a promo label that features home recording artists.. in an effort to really boost our power in numbers to get some attention on everybody.

I'm wondering this, because I do have quite a few resources that can be of help. I am a web hosting reseller, a web developer (PHP), and a designer.. and in my off time I write music. I've already registered a name that I was going to use to try to promote a few friends of mine, called RightCoastTalent.com, and it's sister site: RightCoastScene.com

Although I realize that not everybody here is from the east coast, or even in the USA for that matter, but it might not be a bad start.

Anybody have any ideas or anybody want to join me in this venture? The easy part is getting a functioning promotional website community going.. the hard part is creating the network effect.. but if enough of us work at this, we might be able to make the home recording indie label!

Thoughts, ideas, volunteers are all very welcome. I'm not sure how the logistics would work out, so I'm open to ideas.
 
How about a Viral Video that showcases your music? Are you on iTunes - that's a must in today's music biz....
 
I'd be interested in something like this. Always good to do more networking and get more exposure.

If we're looking for good websites for home-recording artists, my company actually does a templated band site/social networking management system called Bombplates.
 
I'm thinking we allow home recording members who have been so for at least a year free access to the promo label, (too keep out the freeloaders), and push a big community type site specializing only home recording musicians.

What I'd really like to see is some more direct communication between artists and their fans.. But additionally a way to really feature the indies. Maybe produce some compilation albums and send them across the country to put into stores or something.. Definitely a lot of word of mouth...

I've already started coding the music player (flex/flash) I think it could be cool. The gates wouldn't be open to just anyone... but it would be free for fans and listeners...

If we could get some attention, we could use that attention to bolster ourselves. I'm just wondering what gimmick hasn't been done before. More or less this is a tired idea.. so thinking outside the box will definitely help.

I've featured my music on sites like Jango and what not, and I'm just not happy with the level of discussion between artists and fans.

Groupthink time.
 
I think this is a fantastic idea. Keep me posted on this!

Another thing I'd like about this (assuming it would be this way):
When bands send their records to music labels, if they don't have anything other
than the cd itself, it gets thrown away.

I'd love the idea of us listening to the material, and signing them up if they're
really on for the idea (not just freeloaders as you say).

If a certain band or artist ceases to make ANY progress what-so-ever (as in
nobody is checking them out, or they aren't participating themselves), maybe
archive their work in a separate section so that the music is still there, but their
stuff doesn't get in the way and clutter up the place for the working artist.

Just a thought.
 
I might be interested in something like this, although I have no illusions of anyone wanting to buy my music.
 
Count me in. This sounds like it would be a good thing... heh... Although I really don't have any music I'd like to put on there, I love collaboration.
 
Greg_L said:
I might be interested in something like this, although I have no illusions of anyone wanting to buy my music.
Click to expand...

Does it HAVE to be bought?

Maybe giving the band/artist the choice of charging as much as they'd like
(or even the option of doing what Radiohead did - giving the buyer the choice
of how much they'd like to spend) would be a good choice.

I wouldn't want to charge people. In fact I'm a little pissed off that MySpace
don't even allow the option of free download anymore. It was the uploaders
choice whether it could be downloaded or not. I'd like to give that option to
my listeners.

If they can't have it for free, they'll probably listen to it once, forget about
the site and never listen again. If they like it and download it, they might
throw it on their iPod, where it'll be looking them in the face every time they
flick through the menu.

The money in the music industry these days is not in album sales, it's in
live music, merchandise, and other various areas IMO.

Just a thought.
 
I like it on paper

I think real world may be tough. I'd say at the outset your going to need a very good lawyer and clearly define terms and responsibilites even if this is just a networking site to try to link to webstores etc. There's a whole minefield of legal traps just waiting for the unwary out there, just dealing with BMI members and allowing streaming plays of their stuff for example could cause you some legal headaches if you're not careful.

Also there is the question of workload. This is not a small undertaking by any stretch of the imagination and would be a lot of work for anyone/group of people who in a lot of cases have a hard time finding time for the creative process in a busy life, let alone a third career as maintaining a networking site/label/marketing campaign.

If this is seriously being considered I would stand up to help but I think the details would need to be very carefully researched
 
philbagg said:
Does it HAVE to be bought?

.
Click to expand...

If not, then what the fuck is the point? Why try to get "exposure" if it doesn't lead to some kind of financial gain? I give my music away for free every time I post a song in here. I don't care about getting my music out to the public. I have no message. No agenda. Nothing to share. I don't wanna change the world. I don't care who likes it. It's just something fun to do. But if this could lead to cash, then I'm all for it. If not, there's no point.
 
Bristol Posse said:
I like it on paper

I think real world may be tough. I'd say at the outset your going to need a very good lawyer and clearly define terms and responsibilites even if this is just a networking site to try to link to webstores etc. There's a whole minefield of legal traps just waiting for the unwary out there, just dealing with BMI members and allowing streaming plays of their stuff for example could cause you some legal headaches if you're not careful.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bristol, I've been reading up on a lot of this, and it appears the BMI or ASCAP problems would only arise if we didn't have authorization directly from the copyright owner. As long as the artist was the exclusive copyright owner of the music (i.e. not signed to any exclusive labels), and authorized us to play it on our site or use it in other ways, we're safe, no fees.

Bristol Posse said:
Also there is the question of workload. This is not a small undertaking by any stretch of the imagination and would be a lot of work for anyone/group of people who in a lot of cases have a hard time finding time for the creative process in a busy life, let alone a third career as maintaining a networking site/label/marketing campaign.
Click to expand...

Agreed, creating a site should be a project itself, although very much do-able.. but then maintaining it and the IRL-networking would definitely be a lot of work. We'd need to form a commitee of people who want to help, and have a way to decide who can do what.. I personally can donate a fair amount of my resources, such as my technical skills, and web hosting, which I have plenty of..

Bristol Posse said:
If this is seriously being considered I would stand up to help but I think the details would need to be very carefully researched
Click to expand...

Agreed. We would have to set our specific short-term and long term goals, and precisely how we consider we could reach them. It's important to know if we just make a smaller unknown Last.fm or thesixtyone.com nobody's going to care. We're not going to get attention without a lot of work, an interesting angle, and some dedicated people pushing the ideas- online and in real life.
 
Greg_L said:
But if this could lead to cash, then I'm all for it. If not, there's no point.
Click to expand...

There is a point. To just get your music out there. Not all of us want the cash.
I'm more than happy just to have people listening to my music for free.

As I said (I don't know if you read the whole post), it could be done so that you
COULD charge for your music, if you wanted.
 
I guess I just can't wrap my head around getting your music out there and building a fanbase if you don't get anything out of it - be it cash or vagina - which are the only 2 reasons I can think of to want people to like your music.
 
Greg_L said:
I guess I just can't wrap my head around getting your music out there and building a fanbase if you don't get anything out of it - be it cash or vagina - which are the only 2 reasons I can think of to want people to like your music.
Click to expand...

You forgot "drugs" and "spreading your subversive agenda." :D

I think the implication with offering free downloads is that the mp3s build up your fanbase so that you can make more money from physical merch and shows.

That idea is actually pretty similar to Quote Unquote Records'. Their albums are all sold by donation, but it's an even more closed membership than "send your demo to HR-BBS" or even "join HR-BBS for 3 years" would be.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
I think the implication with offering free downloads is that the mp3s build up your fanbase so that you can make more money from physical merch and shows.

.
Click to expand...

I think that's an overly idealistic logic. People download shit for free, and they stay that way. Torrents, napster, kazaa, limewire, megaupload, whatever. I'm sure I'm not alone in the fact that I haven't paid for music since around 1999. :D
 
VomitHatSteve said:
I think the implication with offering free downloads is that the mp3s build up your fanbase so that you can make more money from physical merch and shows.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier

Greg_L said:
I think that's an overly idealistic logic. People download shit for free, and they stay that way. Torrents, napster, kazaa, limewire, megaupload, whatever. I'm sure I'm not alone in the fact that I haven't paid for music since around 1999. :D
Click to expand...

Thats bold :mad:

You're not alone :D
 
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