By John McGlasson
Anyone who plays guitar knows that just learning the basics can be a grueling process, and if you want to do something new and unique, you have to make that the centerpiece of your life. I get cds in the mail every week from artists all over the world, but mostly from here in the US, cds from artists who've worked very, very hard to do something new with the instrument, with varying results, though most of them seem to share the same feeling; entitlement to fame and fortune.
This business is unlike any other on the planet, and it's changing so fast that nobody knows the formula for success right now, we're still discovering it. Yet many artists' mentality towards the label's role in their success hasn't changed much, they want a label that'll pay big money to produce and promote their work, they want money from the label to live on so they can create more music, and they want the label to pay to keep them on tour endlessly, regardless of sales. they want the label to continue spending based solely on a belief in their talent. These things aren't going to happen folks! It's a different biz today, sales are much lower for everyone, digital has not really exploded yet, so it's not a viable source of income thus far, and profit margins are lower because of the higher promo budgets required to sell less cds than before.
Labels want/need to sign artists that already have a well-produced cd ready to go, and some form of marketing in place. Unless you're an artist with good name recognition nationally, it's not likely that a label will be willing to put out the money to record you, regardless of talent or ability. So how much are you willing to spend on yourself? When you solicit the label, are you sending them a poorly produced 3 song demo, or are you sending them a slick, well-produced cd that's market-ready? Have you run your own magazine ads, done your own grass-roots marketing, your own press and publicity work?
Artists get themselves into debt by allowing a label to do all these things for them too soon in their career. Many labels are willing to put out this cash for the artists early on, because every dime of spending on the artists' behalf is recoupable by the label, (most labels anyway) which generally holds 100% of cd sales until the often on-going promo, production, and manufacturing budget is recovered, which often doesn't happen, resulting in zero for the artist. Once the label feels a release has run it's course, the spending stops, but the artist's debt remains. Once the contract ends or the relationship ends for whatever reason, the debt remains, and the label often owns the cd, leaving the artist worse off than they were before signing, even if they benefit long-term by having their disc in the label's catalog. Even more common is that the artist would owe the label another album at that point and be in default.
So what's the point? Why can't you just do it yourself? It's yet to be proven if you can or not. The odd thing is, if more artists would spend their own money producing their own records, making their own slick website and presskits, running a few small ads in strategic magazines, and sending out hundreds of cds and presskits to build name recognition, labels would be alot quicker to get involved, it's like jumping on a train that's already rolling rather then using up the fuel to get moving. If you can create some name recognition on your own, a label will be willing to pick it up where you left off, spending alot more money then you could alone, and using the power of the label and distribution to take you to the next level, or two. Good labels have their own fanbases that you share once you become part of that team.
The most important thing to remember is that this biz is gambling, pure and simple. We can lay out the most brilliant marketing plan for the most brilliant artist with the most brilliant cd ever made, we can spend twice the money than the plan called for, and it still may fail. All the talent, hard work, drive, desire, motivation in the world doesn't guarantee you're success, so try to keep in mind why we do this. If it's for money, I'd say not to bother. Money is a bi-product of success in this biz. Many artists have success from the outsiders' point of view, but have no money and/or large debt. Play because you love to play, play live because you love to play for the people, make records because you like the sound of them, because things are too uncertain right now to plan your retirement on cd sales.
John McGlasson is a life-long guitarist, producer, and founder of o.i.e. Records, Ltd., a musician-oriented independent record label based in central Illinois.
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