tanlith
I wasn't even considering using the service... as I said I currently have no product to offer. Right now I'm focused on preping for live gigs... once we get our shit down then I'll think about recording and distributing it... but that's at least 2yrs off...
Solid idea. It’s a case of plan your work and work your plan
after you have enough accurate information and
know what the hell you’re doing.
The FIRST hurdle in this Industry is to
eliminate all Beer Joint Baritone DELUSIONS! It’s easy enough, just read the posts of CyanJackass, Outlaws, Flo Didlle, pashop and clan and note the HALF-TRUTHS they don’t understand either.
Let’s face it. If ANY of their bullshit really worked every Beer Joint Baritone in the business would be a Super Star! Since NONE of them are - including the Idiot Element clan - anyone with more brains than a retarded oyster can see their line of idiocies are just one more spewing of the never-did-work stupidities this Industry gets reinjected with every day.
It's clear that launching an "ad-campaign" by buying airtime would be beneficial for you if you had a means of distribution... but pashop makes a good point... if there is a method of bypassing that hurdle, what is it?
pashass can’t tell you because he doesn’t know either.
FACT:
There isn’t any! At some point,
after you have proven product and some viable market
indicators as to what, how and if John Q. Public is accepting you at all, you’re going to need to invest a ton of money. There IS financial support for all but the Idiot Element, Super Stupids and Paranoids, from publishers, labels, licensers, venture capitalists, and even from direct
business loans via local/national Banks IF the product is solid and the business house is in order.
Even back in the mid 80's when I was touring with CruxSater (the 'x' is silent) we recorded a "demo" that was really a master... selling at our gigs was easy enough, but any and ALL "chain" record & tape outlets refused to carry our product... there were a few privately owned outlets that would let us put up a kiosk etc... but in general all the chain stores had their company policy that prohibited supporting talent in that way.
Been there. Will explain what you were REALLY up against below.
Now at the risk of being called an idiot, we were young and ignorant about certain things so we took some of what we were told at face value... and one of the record stores told us outright that it's the big companies that (more or less) dictate what the stores carry... In other words if you're not a signed artist with one of the major lablels then you're not selling here... now that I'm a little older and more perceptive I would imagine that what they meant was the Shareholders of the distribution chain made the decision not to carry anything that wasn't of a specific "quality" which translates basicly to: it the band doesn't get airtime somewhere it doesn't hit our shelves.
Let me set the stage, and be ready for another long-winded layout.
In the late 50’s all the majors were in hell up to their eyebrows because
none of them would play outside the KAK Clique and
none of the KAK Clique could come up with anything like an
original thought or idea.
JUST LIKE THE SUPER-SIX (of SEVEN)
MAJORS TODAY!
The policy was, and still is,
do not permit the artists to deliver what the Public wants
lest they become too powerful with that Public and
we lose control! Simple as that.
The problem was, anybody on any label with enough money (and it didn’t take a hell of a lot by comparison) could record a solid production and deliver it. Radio would often play it because their
programmers had to KNOW what their listeners liked and disliked. Today the Art of Radio Programming is all-but extinct. More about programmers below …
Not only were these dreadful little labels taking the Lion’s Share of broadcast time -
which also equals advertising time - they were storming the record outlets and jukeboxes! The KAKs had to congregate! SOMETHING MUST BE DONE! I know, I was one of those that ‘something’ had to be done about!
In addition to setting up via contract my own Distribution, and going International immediately thereafter, I had organized a series of Record Rack ROUTE Services. Standardized their racks, provided them with good product at good prices, and between American Record Rack and United States Record Rack (both my colleague operations) and fellow competitors, you could buy a record damned near anywhere, even local Grocery Stores and Supermarkets! Of course, THAT did get some sympathy from Record Stores and Chains, Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Wards among them. The battle lines were drawn …
In those days a Distributor - more like a franchise for the label - maintained a sales staff who knocked on all the area record outlets, broadcasters and jukebox operators to hawk the product. Some of the larger Distributors had secondary outlets in the next-major cities within their coverage area. And THOSE, the Sales Staff and second stores with their operations and sales staff were expensive to be sure, and the CASH REGISTER drives all markets.
Let make that a bit more clear:
Distributor A: (1, 2 & 3, labels) with stores and staff in near-by cities a, b, and c;
Distributor B: (4, 5 & 6, labels) with stores and staff in near-by cities a, b, and c;
Distributor C: (7, 8 & 9, labels) with stores and staff in near-by cities a, b, and c;
Distributor D: (10, 11 & 12, labels) with stores and staff in near-by cities a, b, and c.
You can see that if those Distributors were all in the
same city with stores and staff in all the
same near-by cities (at least covering the same areas) that competition was not only fierce, the fight for “hot” product was worse! And the Majors were being left behind in the game.
And so:
The 50+/- Major Labels of the day called a meeting (by invitation only and NO publicity) at the famed Waldorf Astoria in New York. I happened to be one of the ‘invites’, not because I was a Major Label, but because the KAKs wanted to ‘investigate’ how I was operating over a few gallons of beer and top shelf. They lost out on BOTH accounts because I was (still am!) a trained intelligence operative and I could out-drink a school of thirsty fish.
The final plan came down to this:
1st - the Majors would take over
direct promotion to radio;
2nd - the Majors would
blackmail the Trade Pubs to either
eliminate those dreadful indies from the
Top 40 chart positions or risk
losing the label’s next week advertising;
3rd - the Distributors would eliminate their sales staffs, keeping open the BEST out-side stores as
ONE STOPS where the local stores and jukebox operators would come to them;
4th - the Distributors would be able to
trade among themselves, thus providing their near-by ONE STOPS with everything available at the time, either direct or on-order. That eliminated a lot of the near-by city outlets, with only the best producers surviving to become ONE STOPS!
5th - to insure the elimination of the indie access to market there were TWO vital points:
------ (a) the Majors would
BUY BACK all unsellable copies from the Distributors -
------ (b) the Distributors couldn’t handle any label
”not as available” (distributed) as the Major they carried or risk losing that Major!
Blackmail pure and simple. And it worked like a charm because it was KAKs dealing with KAKs.
Even so, KAKs are pretty stupid, and there were some very nice holes in that whole scenario.
1st - all radio didn’t have to play if they didn’t want to. The Majors needed radio, not the other way around.
2nd - the Bottom 60 of all Trade Pub charts
had to be left open to avoid
Federal Anti-Trust Laws! Since the Top 40 were already bought, it wasn’t long before the Bottom 60 would be too.
3rd - Distributors were in the same boat once a label
secured sufficient distribution to be in that “as available” category.
You can damned well bet I blew all those doors off! There was no way around the BUY BACK situation, and still isn’t. But how many Beer Joint Baritone know-it-alls have you ever head explain that glitch in their stupidities?
NONE! And it’s only been in effect since JANUARY 1ST,
1960! Either you have the BUY BACK
in the Bank (not something you can just ‘offer’) or you don’t have distribution. Period. A few consignment copies does not equal distribution. As you found out the hard way.
So the Majors eliminated the Sales Staff of Distributors just like they did the Radio Programmers when they crammed their Billboard-or-Else adjunct to their control-it-all endeavors. It took a few more years, but that plan was sanctioned on day one, just like the rest of the
eliminate-the-indies efforts that are still in effect today. That was done by permitting broadcasters to ‘claim’ to be a ‘reporting’ station. Big deal. They don’t ‘report’ anything, they play the Billboard-approved list or stop claiming to be a ‘reporting’ station. Period.
The next slammer by the Distributors was a
”must product” provision. They were not going to make all these
working changes unless there were some solid guarantees the new process was going to
work at least as well. That meant the Majors
had to keep the shelves full whether most/any of it was selling or not!
They still do!
And the massive losses of that returned product
gets CHARGED BACK to the artist! Product, shipping, paper shuffling and all! Busted right off in the Artist’s ass by way of the very contract all the Idiot Element is hell bent to sign! And any other contract that preempts such financial disasters is a ‘scam’. Former West Germany Chancellor Conrad Adenauer once said, “God put a limitation on our knowledge, but none whatsoever on our stupidity!”
Your problem wasn’t the content of your music, your problem was you didn’t have a clue as to the Industry
requirements for distributed product. The Beer Joint Baritones still don’t! And, as long as they maintain their abject stupidity, like those spewing all over this board,
they never will! Fortunately, you have the intelligence to ask relevant questions
without all the flaming nonsense of the Idiot Element.
On one hand this sucks for local talent, but on the other hand it prevents every Tom, Dick and Harry from selling their sub-standard crap to the unsuspecting public... and I'm sure the record stores don't want to have to preview every thing they sell personally....
And with the Majors doing all their
thinking for them, radio included, they don’t’ have to. They just stick it on the shelves and 90-120 days later stick it back in the label’s ass; who in turn will stick it to guess who?!
Also, other than selling stuff at concerts and online, what other distribution chains are available to the unsigned artist?
Sad fact is, except for other pusswilly operations, internet included from Amazon on down, there aren’t any. But one reason is, the
misperception of ‘signed/unsigned’. If a product exists, that act is
signed in the eyes of the market. Nobody is going to jump in and grab you up; and nobody is going to pay out a scad of money to void the counterfeiters once a product has been manufactured. We don’t have to. We’re buried in product that is NOT jackassed, so we don’t have to expend one red cent in product that is! Manufactured = Jackassed! Period.
Face it, marketing is probably about 75% of the work involved in being a success as a working musician. (Of course that's completely relevent to the level of success you personally desire -- some want it all others are content to just play a gig every Saturday night for free beer... to each his own)
Absolutely. But even the local yocals can’t make much headway if they’re so-called ‘knowledge’ about the entertainment industry is rampant bullshit! That’s why most of them are starving for a place to gig.
So this poses another question for The General... how exactly does Atlantic solve the distribution problem? Or is that even taken into consideration? If so, good! If not, why? (or why not?)
Atlantic
doesn’t solve the distribution problem.
They’re a C-H-A-R-T! A damned good and deadly
accurate CHART, but a CHART none the less. They MONITOR satellite channels carrying music and post the results in order from most to least transferes down to 2,500. To, from or by, if it’s got music on it, ASM monitors the damned thing. They actually monitor ALL satellite channels and sell the
Industrial Intelligence!
Now that
Industrial Intelligence is a factor for consideration! If a record will log sufficient transfers to come up in the Top 2,500 of about 35,000 songs playing at any given time,
somebody likes it whether the Idiot Element does or not! That in itself is a prime indicator the record has
commercial acceptability. Whether it has enough to justify additional investment is a decision to be made by the owners/creators. It’s a
business decision, and a risky one in this Industry at best.
And THAT is why we advise all newcomers to
”STOP” spending money until they KNOW what the hell they’re doing and the
viable options available to them. Which includes using EMS to
test their product BEFORE they drop their entire budget into it.
All the Majors do the same thing! Check the charts and see for yourself. And contrary to the crack-headed mentalities who post their perpetual idiocies everywhere there’s room for data,
we advise searching the net for EMS
Brokers who probably have a better price than accorded by our overhead.
P.S. I have no intention of using any such service as I currently have no product to offer... but I have a genuine interest in this aspect of the industry...
Anyone who blasts off incoherently with their ignorance intact in this Best Of All Industries
is a damned fool and going to lose their entire investment! I’m glad to see you’re not one of them. Learn the business
of the business and you’ll be able to do all of it you want, local gigger to Super Star. It’s just a matter of knowing both are for sale, and what they really cost.
Another PK,
pashass can’t come up with even the FIXED costs, because he doesn’t have a clue what they are! And he knows even
less about the rest of the realities of/in this Best Of All Industries.
I’m just glad those who are either stupid or paranoid enough to listen to him won’t be wasting any VMG time, effort or money.
TDA
