Startin Your Own Label
- Thread starter Girlnezz
- Start date
Depends on what you consider starting your own label.
Paperwork wise it's not that much. That also depends on the city/county/state you live in too. I was looking at getting registered as a LLC(Limited Liability Company) in Maryland. It was going to cost $60ish for the LLC filing fee. I'm not sure if you need a DBA(Doing Business As) license but if so that was going to be another $25. Their are a few other things you would need to do, like getting a license saying you would be a wholesaler so that you wouldn't have to pay taxes on getting your albums pressed up(because the consumer pays taxes at the retail level). There's a form you need to fill out to you can open up a checking account in your business' name.
The best thing to do is to go through a lawyer(so they can do every little thing for you). The guy I run web servers for was charged $300ish which got him registered as a LLC for his photography/web designing business.
So you can look at it, for just being "Legal" , at around $300.
After you get legal, then it's really all on how you plan to release albums. You could buy all your own equipment for several g's, or come out your pocket, several g's, paying for producers/artist/studio time.
So for the most part, starting a label is getting "legal" and then getting music produced. Just depends on the route you take.
That Texas Fella
sugaty@aol.com
Paperwork wise it's not that much. That also depends on the city/county/state you live in too. I was looking at getting registered as a LLC(Limited Liability Company) in Maryland. It was going to cost $60ish for the LLC filing fee. I'm not sure if you need a DBA(Doing Business As) license but if so that was going to be another $25. Their are a few other things you would need to do, like getting a license saying you would be a wholesaler so that you wouldn't have to pay taxes on getting your albums pressed up(because the consumer pays taxes at the retail level). There's a form you need to fill out to you can open up a checking account in your business' name.
The best thing to do is to go through a lawyer(so they can do every little thing for you). The guy I run web servers for was charged $300ish which got him registered as a LLC for his photography/web designing business.
So you can look at it, for just being "Legal" , at around $300.
After you get legal, then it's really all on how you plan to release albums. You could buy all your own equipment for several g's, or come out your pocket, several g's, paying for producers/artist/studio time.
So for the most part, starting a label is getting "legal" and then getting music produced. Just depends on the route you take.
That Texas Fella
sugaty@aol.com
LiquidBronze
New member
...
if you just started making beats, its way to soon to even worry about getting a label together
peace
LB
if you just started making beats, its way to soon to even worry about getting a label together
peace
LB
Unless you got P.Diddy dollars to pay for productions/studio time/ghostwriters/promotions/yada yada yada
Did yall read about p.diddy's 100 million contract just ended, and that he's been struggling to find a distributor. This one company only offered him 10 million, because the executives worried about his extravagant spending. I think that's in this months Source
That Texas Fella
sugaty@aol.com
Did yall read about p.diddy's 100 million contract just ended, and that he's been struggling to find a distributor. This one company only offered him 10 million, because the executives worried about his extravagant spending. I think that's in this months Source
That Texas Fella
sugaty@aol.com
I've half-assed this, haven't failed yet completely but that's because I don't have a lotta time to devote to it cause I got a family to tend to and gotta put food up on the tables and this ain't paying bills right now.
Your best bet is to get some tracks together and put out some kinda CD, selling from tha trunk of ya car, etc.
Most mom & pop record stores will sell your Cd's, you just gotta either
a.) Be able to record at home and get at least 85% studio quality out of it
or
b.) Be able to afford to go to the studio and record either yourself if you're an artist, or find ya some rappers who can help you out.
c.) Some local radio stations play indie music.... hittin the airwaves always helps, hitting clubs, contests, etc...
Start you a plan and figure out your fan-base and how to reach your fan-base with the music you make. There's a lot of Tejano and Salsa indie labels down here and they're ballin' because the fan-base is most of the population. More than likely, you can't sell rap music at a church, so pick locations and get some names out there and most of all...REPRESENT...
that'll get ya name out there and a website would help get your name out there on the web. I paid 12 bucks for the domain name and 4.95 a month for some company to host it. Website aspect of a label is fairly inexpensive, and if you're going to package and duplicate your own Cd's, that's a good route too, and you prolly can get away with that, dollar-wise, until you get a large fan base.... then expect to spend $$$ on having a company duplicate/package your cd's, and even more $$$ on marketing.
Basically put, there's a lot of ways to do it. There's also a lot of good books out there on how to do it. If you're not devoted though, and not able to do it full-time, it prolly won't make it. The brick walls of ya label gotta be as strong as the person who built it.........
Your best bet is to get some tracks together and put out some kinda CD, selling from tha trunk of ya car, etc.
Most mom & pop record stores will sell your Cd's, you just gotta either
a.) Be able to record at home and get at least 85% studio quality out of it
or
b.) Be able to afford to go to the studio and record either yourself if you're an artist, or find ya some rappers who can help you out.
c.) Some local radio stations play indie music.... hittin the airwaves always helps, hitting clubs, contests, etc...
Start you a plan and figure out your fan-base and how to reach your fan-base with the music you make. There's a lot of Tejano and Salsa indie labels down here and they're ballin' because the fan-base is most of the population. More than likely, you can't sell rap music at a church, so pick locations and get some names out there and most of all...REPRESENT...
that'll get ya name out there and a website would help get your name out there on the web. I paid 12 bucks for the domain name and 4.95 a month for some company to host it. Website aspect of a label is fairly inexpensive, and if you're going to package and duplicate your own Cd's, that's a good route too, and you prolly can get away with that, dollar-wise, until you get a large fan base.... then expect to spend $$$ on having a company duplicate/package your cd's, and even more $$$ on marketing.
Basically put, there's a lot of ways to do it. There's also a lot of good books out there on how to do it. If you're not devoted though, and not able to do it full-time, it prolly won't make it. The brick walls of ya label gotta be as strong as the person who built it.........