Record Labels

mentalattica

mentalattica

Just a Home Recorder
O.K. yall I just got an offer to get SIGNED!!!
(From a 15 year old high school kid in Tennesee...??? :confused: )


I won't post the email because it's that embarrassing for dude.

A thing that's killing me right now is "record labels" online. 80% of people I see online saying they have a record label have a worse off homestudio than myself and I consider mine pretty budget (the other 20% have a slightly better home studio...lol). They might have invested $500 - $1000 into their studio... now that's cool and everything but that's ALL they have. Since when does a MXL 990 and a Behringer Mixer constitute a Record Label?

This shit is getting sad, I see so many rappers online with raggedy home studio's (no offense to anyone here) advertising as record labels. Is it possible? Yes. Probable? No. What's even more sad is some of these cats are doing it just to look important to ppl on their buddy list, or to meet bitches online. They don't know the 1st thing about running a label, they have no attorney's, distribution, funding etc... I can't say I know how to run a label because I truly don't, but I don't front like I can.

I feel like smackin' n*ggaz and talking to them like children, "Youuuuu, Don'ttttt, Haveeeee, aaaaa, Record Labelllll..."

This kid had the nerve to offer to sign me to his record label, I'd have to travel to his "studio" (MXL 990, Behringer Mixer and Cool Edit) at my expense to record for free. He got my email address from my website, so I asked if he bothered to look at my home studio and gear list... Why would I pay for travel to record for free, when I can wake up and record for free... When I asked about distribution, he didn't know what I was talking about. After explaining it to him, he reassured me he has a CD burner. So then I had to ask about getting $$$ and how old he was...lol


One of my damn EQ plugins are worth more than his studio.
This really got under my skin today, damn kids and their toys.
 
I would have signed with him and then start making crazy demands. Like tell him you refuse to record unless he gives you a shaved poodle wearing a grass skirt. And if he complains, tell him that it's standard stuff for a label to do.
 
LOL...everyone wants to own a record label...

not me..i just wanna produce tracks....yeaaaa

now sent me some business...LOL
 
watermelon said:
I would have signed with him and then start making crazy demands. Like tell him you refuse to record unless he gives you a shaved poodle wearing a grass skirt. And if he complains, tell him that it's standard stuff for a label to do.
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ROFLMAO :D :D :D :D
 
watermelon said:
I would have signed with him and then start making crazy demands. Like tell him you refuse to record unless he gives you a shaved poodle wearing a grass skirt. And if he complains, tell him that it's standard stuff for a label to do.
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LMAO!
Maybe you should read my website too then. In my gearlist you will clearly see "Delta 1010, ART PRO VLA, Shaved Poodle wearing a grass skirt..." :D
 
Ya, it's crazy. I had someone come in and say they just got a MBox and made a record label.

Now, being a record label is not just about having a studio. It's about knowing your business. You have to keep track of your budget. Register your label. Know about publishing and copyright... And so on.

You don't just make CDs and try to sell them. You have to take care of your artists and members. They have to eat.

With the web, it's so easy to say you are a label and sign people. But, a lot of folks just don't know what they are getting into. Do they have a label for a business? Prohit? Do they have members in the label that do a task? Audio engineer? Accountant? Manager? Studio director? Tech? You need all these things to run smoothly. And if you don't have things running smoothly, you are in no business to sign anyone.

8 years ago you would have never seen this. You had to get signed to a major or big indie label. But, know it's way to easy to get bad deals and find yourself stuck with no where to go... :o

And also, you can get studio gear and all that. But, you need someone to work it right and make a quality product.

"Many labels are made, but only a few survive."
 
Idk if it's someone on here playin jokes but i got a similar offer in a e-mail tryin to sign me for beats and producing and they wanted a demo so i said wuts your p.o. box number and he said "wuts that"? so i said i'm sorry i'll have to decline but i'm currently negotiating with another company. maybe one day i'll get signed but till then i'll keep makin a library of beats for my resume :D
 
lol I always see mad people who do shit like that. They don't know anything about the industry at all. Recording label/Production/manufacturer all in one... With no plan either. I've never gotten an email to be signed as anything, at least not anything that I would consider worthy of being a business venture.
 
DesertEase said:
Idk if it's someone on here playin jokes but i got a similar offer in a e-mail tryin to sign me for beats and producing and they wanted a demo so i said wuts your p.o. box number and he said "wuts that"? so i said i'm sorry i'll have to decline but i'm currently negotiating with another company. maybe one day i'll get signed but till then i'll keep makin a library of beats for my resume :D
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Wow. That's classic. P.O. Box?

I'd say be your own indie label and learn everything you need to know about business. Then sign as a sub label under a major for just distribution. Cause as I see it, I'd never sign away my label name. I'd get signed to a major label for backing, promotion and distribution. But, production and artists are all in house in our label... Feel me?
 
BeatsBuY said:
Wow. That's classic. P.O. Box?

I'd say be your own indie label and learn everything you need to know about business. Then sign as a sub label under a major for just distribution. Cause as I see it, I'd never sign away my label name. I'd get signed to a major label for backing, promotion and distribution. But, production and artists are all in house in our label... Feel me?
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Whenever you sign as a "sub label" your label becomes controlled property of the major label. I WOULD recommend it as this industry is really hard to make it for indie labels. Regardless of how you look at it as, once you sign that contract to a major label, your owned for life (as long as your with the label). So that's still basically signing your label away. The production & control of the in house artists would still somewhat remain yours. I say somewhat because major labels & their sub label's trust (most of the time) their employee/exec's judgement. They usually respect the artist's producer's judgement on the music/product too. Even on a million dollar budget, for a str8 up indie label, it's still hard to make it. Everyone knows the big boys pulling in billions of dollars total per year. I'm saying that on say 2 labels 1 indie, 1 major, the indie has a million dollar budget, the major has 10 million dollar budget, BOTH can make it, BUT the only problem is of course the major gots more resources available to put a record out in 6 months and sell a couple platinums. The indie label has to WATCH his/her money, and play the cards VERY carefully, and probably would take twice (minimum) as long to release what we call a successful album.
 
I was more looking at it from a producer stand point and not an artist. You know produce for artists and you have your own production company. For example, say I produced for a major label on a project. I'm not signed with the label, but I get publishing and points with control of my production label...
 
So what would a person in my situation do? I have the tools necessary to make joints and arrange them for cd quality. I do not have nor do i have the money to build a professional studio so that artists can come to me and do projects. I wanna be able to provide beats for artists and make a little profit doing it and then later on i would be able to build a studio so that i can have i house projects goin down......so my question is how do i get started so that the ball starts rollin and gets bigger and bigger?
 
Well, do you want to "work for hire"? Where you go to a studio a produce for an artist. I go to different studios where I produce and engineer. You could say it's freelance I guess. I go where the business is. Plus I got my own thing going at the same time.


It's not being an intern at all. You are being paid to finish a project. If you get tight with a studio owner, you can work out a deal for him to shop beats to the artists that come in to his studio. (But, make sure he needs your resource and don't clash with in house producers.) Do your research. Maybe the studio doesn't have a big hip hop resource and you can bring that resource to them. You can get work that way. Work it this way. Bring an artist to a session in a studio and be the producer. If you got the fire on the beats, there is no reason someone would turn down an opportunity to make money. Chop it up with the studio owner and see what happends.
 
once again thanks for the info idk how many times i have thanked you for info but you keep givin me critical info that i prolly would never find on my own so thanks for your blessings it is appreciated
 
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