Home Recording Label, idea

  • Thread starter Thread starter FredFredrickson
  • Start date Start date
Nobody said it had to operate like that.

Yeah but then it's not a label is it? What would be the point of it? There are a ton of promotional websites already that don't really do too much as it is LOL
 
The cost of releasing 1 CD, say your own music, and then paying for it to be manufactured is not something everyone is available to do.

http://www.tunecore.com

Release an album to all major webstores, globally for about 40 bucks. let amazon CD on demand handle any CD duplication and you collect 40% of the sale price for CDs and 100% of the payout on everything else.

Probably not a great deal if you're U2 and can sell a million albums sight unseen, but if you're like me and can sell about thirty it is a lot more practical and you're not left with a bunch of "coasters" floating around the house reminding you that you're not U2
 
Last edited:
haha yeah. You find out real quick you're not U2 when you don't see many sales after spending 40 dollars on marketing LOL

Grassroots man. This thing needs people in the streets talking to other people. I don't think the Internet has much of an impact on no-name musicians. Because the obscure no-name musicians market is obviously flooded. Although I'm sure there are a few success stories...
 
haha yeah. You find out real quick you're not U2 when you don't see many sales after spending 40 dollars on marketing LOL

Grassroots man. This thing needs people in the streets talking to other people. I don't think the Internet has much of an impact on no-name musicians. Because the obscure no-name musicians market is obviously flooded. Although I'm sure there are a few success stories...

$40 has nothing to do with marketing I was just pointing out that physically releasing a CD is not as prohibitively expensive as you were stating and can be done for under $40 by absolutely anyone.

The whole point of this thread is what happens next and that is where the value of a home recording "label" can be in getting the grass roots support going and building a buzz so maybe not an LOL idea afterall if the right angle can be found.
 
$40 has nothing to do with marketing I was just pointing out that physically releasing a CD is not as prohibitively expensive as you were stating and can be done for under $40 by absolutely anyone.

The whole point of this thread is what happens next and that is where the value of a home recording "label" can be in getting the grass roots support going and building a buzz so maybe not an LOL idea afterall if the right angle can be found.

Precisely. This site would be a means of distribution, but also, more importantly, a means for advertisement and exposure. We need a good angle, and it will take a lot of footwork and manpower to get some exposure..

All of us can be a lot better than each one of us..
 
So what is it that this "record label" is ultimately supposed to do? Would we be helping each other produce our albums? Press them? Distribute and/or sell them? Or just advertising each other on our websites and shows?
 
Lol U2.....

My teacher was the first label who signed them right before they hit major scale (Patrick Keel). As I recalled, back then, Dragon Street Records was just a starter and was able to "successfully" release records at the time without a major budget.

Fast forward to todays time. It is a lot harder, and more expensive to place your material in brick & mortar companies. Whilst it may seem "impossible" it is absolutely not. Do your homework
 
$40 has nothing to do with marketing I was just pointing out that physically releasing a CD is not as prohibitively expensive as you were stating and can be done for under $40 by absolutely anyone.

The whole point of this thread is what happens next and that is where the value of a home recording "label" can be in getting the grass roots support going and building a buzz so maybe not an LOL idea afterall if the right angle can be found.

I never considered CDR duplication as a real release :D
 
I seriously doubt they are going to create a glass master of your CD to make 1 CD at a time LOL

Unless they are going to print up a semi-large run of CDs, like around 1000 and keep them in some warehouse and prey they don't just collect dust...

I'm not sure how they do it, but I'm can take a guess it's fancy packaged CD-R's
 
If I ever finish any of my projects, I'll try it out for the hell of it and get back to you on how well it works :laughings:
 
So, just to clarify. Are we thinking of starting this up as a channel to distribute our own music? Or are we going to promote the bands that we record. Personally, I think that latter option would be more effective. We provide the website, a multitude of studios, and we can collaberate with each other on mixes, mastering, etc...

Let the bands get out on the road, promoting their music face-to-face with their fans. It seems that most of us here are better set up to stick to the behind the scenes side of things anyways. With the network of people on here, we could have a lot of bands "signed" (or whatever you want to call it) to this label

Also, a sweet name and logo is needed. Although, I'll be damned if I could come up with anything. But if we ever did think of something good, we could all standardize bumper stickers, and other paraphernalia, to give to people in order to get the word out about our website, studio and radio station.
 
as you probably noticed iv already set up my own site in my sig below, thinking pretty much a similar idea. Im currently getting the name around with local UK bands and magazines, websites etc. Also have a twitter and facebook group to help with the networking side of things.
Will be more than happy to help collaberating with other sites etc.
 
Not sure how all of this stuff would work but I'm glad you guys are being proactive.

With the name thing, it's going to be hard to get anyone to agree .. I think we mostly have different tastes on what an appropriate name would be. Good luck nonetheless.
 
new thinking

first off, it doesn't matter if you can afford 100,000 in marketing if you are releasing crap, you are dead in the water. the material you are creating has got to be quality, worth listening to, and that has to be the first priority.

if you are doing music for money only, you are not doing music, and any success will be short lived.

if in over 20 posts to a thread all you can do is nay say, belittle, and whine about the ideas of a bunch of newcomers, than you should really go hide yourself. for a new musician who hasn't yet played out, the coffee house is the starting point. the place to get that first crowd feedback, develop some stage presence, get some comfort. what? it's not cool unless you are selling thousands of cds and playing in stadiums? please. at the end of the day, do what you want to do. those who are in music for their own personal enjoyment should do whatever they think they would get enjoyment out of doing. let the naysayers sit in the basement and troll forums.

as far as the legal bs? it's exactly that. music publishing started when the only way to reproduce that song was to give a printed sheet music to the band to play it. they actually published something. the whole industry needs an overhaul, and in case you haven't noticed the music industry is getting an overhaul. worrying about the legality of a startup music venture is putting cart before horse.

fact is, anyone can put their own album on itunes for less than 100 a year, and get around 65 cents a download. also, rather than having 300 cds made all at once, i would recommend getting a inkjet printer that can print cds/dvds (ebay around 110) and making discs as you get proceeds. especially if you are combining your efforts with others, you would be able to sell a custom disc of 10 tracks from a library of artists. and before this gets quoted and replied with "oh they look like crap, etc" - how many of us would rather get 10 great songs on a f-ing disc with a label hand written with a sharpie, as opposed to album artwork on par with Yes, containing 10 garbage filler songs.

playing live i would estimate is going to get you half of your yearly take. that depends on the genre, but it's a good rough percentage. in other words, you want to make 30,000 a year as a musician? then figure `15,000 in music sales and 15,000 in live shows. certainly not something you can just run out and accomplish overnight, but as stated before in this thread the live show feeds the music sales and vice versa.

but itunes is the same as anything else. if no one knows about it, it's meaningless. you could have stevie wonder in your studio and make a great song, but if no one knows about it, you are lost.

i believe the equation is % of music quality X % of exposure = % of possible sales

stupidly simple, but if you are just starting, you shouldn't compare yourself to U2 and be pissed off they are grossly outselling you. you don't have their level of quality, nor do you have their level of exposure.

enter the internet. cream has always risen to the top. with such vehicles as youtube though, cream rises at a ridiculous rate. put a song on youtube. manually go out and promote your song. make friends with "similar" artists and get feedback from the entire planet. then take an honest assessment of your situation. unless you get feedback like, "wow, this is incredible" you are simply not going to be an overnight sensation. half the battle is having the balls to put your own stuff out there for the world to see. some here can't do it.

but don't let some clown talk you out of trying. life is too short.
 
The issue is, CD-R's aren't just as good as actual pressed CD's. And its impossible to get any good deals on pressed CD's at under 1000. I think like a run of 300 CD's at discmakers ends up costing like $900, which is freaking outrageous.

I mean, it depends on what you are doing. I am in the process of releasing a CD I made with a friend of mine, and I was planning on doing it the CD-R route but with a professional package, which is fine for the small scale release we're doing. But for something really epic, you really can't settle for non-pressed CD's.
 
please tell me how different it is?

no seriously. i own about 3000 discs purchased, and i have burned about that many as well, from the 1x burner on up.

please tell me how different it is as it relates to joe schmoe playing it in his cavalier.

and i'm not wanting to argue, just get your serious opinion.
 
Back
Top