Who says you need a label to make it?

[~KissTheStar]

http://specials.msn.com/customad/content/digitalhq/article7.asp


Read this article about the band Maktub and how they are marketing themselves successfully without a label and getting licensing agreements. The internet is your friend.


~Craig

[~Scar Chemik]

In the electronic genre, there is no thing as radio airplay and exclusive record store deals that comes with big labels.

In our genre, I think that the internet allows for a small act to be a decent small act. Not huge but decent. The band still needs to sink a grand into CD reproduction and web space as well as advertising on web sites outside of their own (you have to drive traffic to your site some way).

Will they make that money back? Most don't.

Ron H.
www.black-chamber.com

[~Kirlian Blue]

My problem is yes you can do it as they have but as soon as your Synthpop/EBM/Darkwave big labels just won't take the risk.I respect a band like that which has made it .They must be good and more than 100% at what they do. I just think in the UK mosT well 95% of alternative bands are not released here anyway even though they come from here. It would help if i could my self get a Liscenceing Deal in the UK. I have plans for Virgin with a couple of lapdancers and freaks im sure the A&R dept will take notice .....but even then if i was any good im too much of a risk....

Well i think the Internet paid of for Heaven 17 and Mesh and a lot of British Bands....so im not going to say it cant be done..im just scared by the work involved because im a semi lazy muscian when I have no madam to keep me in check lol Good Article Mr CLD ......

From the Dandy Flamboyant Electrophiliac Kirlian B !!!!

[~Quixote Chapter]

Ifyou are really ¤¤¤¤ing good, and you're determined and persistent a label is not necessary. The big labels are dieing. There is much more opportunity as an independent artist these days. We have the Internet to promote ourselves AND to use as a distribution tool. We have loyal fans willing to do gorilla promotion for us. It's an exciting time to be an electronic musician. The MSN article does make a few great points: You need a slick website, and you must promote yourself by any means necessary.

-Kevin

[~Quixote Chapter]

Originally posted by stargazer

but your music has to be good.. that disqualifies just about every non-signed synthpop artist...



You mean there's a one in a million chance that my music is "stargazer good."

Yes!!!

This good news calls for a drink!

Cheers!

-Kevin

[~gordonctrl]

Originally posted by stargazer


WHO?

you may not need a label.. but your music has to be good.. that disqualifies just about every non-signed synthpop artist...

thetruthaboutsynthpop.com


INCOMING!!!!!!

[~Quixote Chapter]

The music business is changing, Joel. Promotion is promotion is promotion. I'm not talking about U2 level fame. All I'm talkin bout is making money off of this ¤¤¤¤. Take Diffusion Records as an example. I think Andrew, Brad and company have a good chance to make money from the new Iris and Lowtechnicians records. They have a great web presence, produce quality material, and are promoting aggressively.

Optimism=Good

Denny's=Bad

-Kevin

[~cephalopod]

I think that if you have the talent and the drive and can figure out how to promote yourself well enough a label is superfluous. Resources can be acquired, as can external support mechanisms.

One method I've used to some success is the artist collective. Yes, its been done before, that doesnt matter. What matters is that its working.

Thirdwave is now able to book and play shows anywhere in the midwest, including and especially Chicago, traditionally the most difficult. We've got an artist financed compilation due out in a month with Corrosive Audio mastering and promo through DSBP and Gothic Chicago. Our new portal site is almost finished and should be ready within a month.

All on just volunteer work and donated resources from people who know whats in the collectives best interest is in their own best interest is in the col.. you get the point.

[~andrew [iris]]

you don't need a label. usually "label" just means "someone crazy enough to put money behind you". they normally will trade you money for the right to release and manufacture your CD. some labels will also control the rights to your masters, others (like us) won't.

one thing a label can do is help bands have a more effective and coherent marketing presence. slick website is a must. in this scene, bands seem pretty awful at handling that part of the equation.

if you're convinced your band is hot ¤¤¤¤, you can certainly go it alone. here's what you need:

some amount of money to handle CD artwork (DON'T do this yourself if you don't have any design skills, find a friend who does)

some amount of money to have your CD mastered (again, don't do this yourself if you don't have the skills, find a friend or pay for it)

$1500 to press a thousand copies of your CD (go for pressing, it's much more professional than CD-R's)

$100 to set up your website/domain/hosting. possible more if you have to outsource the website design.

time: a bunch of hours trawling the internet finding DJ and club contacts so that you can send out 50-60 CD's into the ether and try to get your stuff heard (which is the key to playing shows)

and you're done! hopefully they'll fly off the shelves. unfortunately, last year 35,000 records were released - only 5,000 of them sold more than a thousand copies. making money off this biz is really tough, i'm personally probably over $5,000 in the hole and counting.

- andrew

[~SynthezObserver]

Hello artists! Can anyone tell us what is the prime cost of a single cd and how much we overpay when buy thru e-stores and distributors!!
no commercial secrets please

[~emma_stormhatt]

I guess in this genre no big label really want to touch us so I never even bothered to send in our record to one of these "through it in the can before even listening to it" guys. However making it on you own is a bit unnessesary. I pretty much agree with andrew[iris] even though we did spend $2500 on our album including mastering and printwork (in Sweden). So one needs the money.

But what to do then. It's easier to bunch up with a number of bands creating you own label. This gives advantages when it comes to both quality and promotion. This is what we did. We started Shadowplay Electronica (www.shadowplayelectronica.com) and now we have released our own CD (Delay and Depression) and this spring [brus] will release their CD. In addition we have the Electronica in Shadow compilation and a bunch of American bands joining up with Sean Patric on the american side of Shadowplay Electronica (I hope you'll join us Craig).

So my tip is (unless you get lucky with the big labels): Get together and do it with other bands. Be serious and let you own label evolve. Don't do it for you own band's sake. Do it for all the bands on the new label.

Martin/Marina Sirtis

[~intro]

Several people have covered the collective thing, and I think it's an excellent concept. Bands need to work together, especially those geographically close to each other. Remix each other, help each other with recording, loan each other gear. Then when it comes to marketing and sales, help each other out. Even things as small as one band manning the sales table at a show while the other band plays.

The record labels like to wave their big financial dick around and keep us down, but if we stick together we can accomplish what we want. Andrew covered a lot of things as well. It's about having a very solid, professional image. That's important. You've gotta be quality every step of the way. If you're quality, you're talented, you're persistent and you're a little bit lucky, you'll get to where you want to go.

I know of a few people who are doing surprisingly well with their music. Certainly better than I ever expected of them. And it's because they just kept going no matter what.

Take a look at a band like Deepsky. Nobodies several years back. They were from the whole New Mexico crew with System 22, Echoing Green, etc. And they just remixed Madonna's latest Bond theme. They stuck to it, got a little bit lucky, and they're doing very well for it. And they're really cool guys as well =]

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~Reagan]

I'm still convinced a piece of music creates it's own worth, label or no label. I believe the industry will respond to that worth if there is sufficient interest to warrant an investment iin its source - the writers. Loads of bands use good live performances as their main selling point but they also risk losing it all after their first release. From a label's perspective, it's kind of like dating on looks alone and realizing within a week there's not much there. If a band has something else - songs, an emotionally devoted fan base (not a live performance-gained fan base), and overall under-the-radar interest, industry sleuths will probably find you. That's what they are paid to do. But because their options are so limited, these sleuths have become accustomed to a new value system by which to base their judgments, which usually means they look for bands who have a great stage presence and settle for that. However, if you can broaden their options by offering something more - brilliant music - they might just say uncle.

[~Sean X]

Originally posted by Scar Chemik
[b]In the electronic genre, there is no thing as radio airplay and exclusive record store deals that comes with big labels.


You can say that again!

I made a big mistake last year. I'm doing well running Zeitgeist Records, which I founded as an alternative to "signing up" - and I'm selling enough albums that I should be happy ("Control" is currently flying out the door as quick as I can press 'em up)...

...but every now and then you yearn. Things don't feel right. If you're doing so well, how come you aren't in any stores? How come you're not on the TV? How come you're not on the radio?

Well, you know the answer - because the big labels pay for this to happen. Getting on US mainstream radio, for instance, costs approx $250,000 to get decent rotation syndicated sparsely for a a few scant hours. And REALLY, the artist pays for it.... but the big label loans them the money ;)

So, I ignore the fact that I'm actually doing better than I ever did with a label, and I start sending off demos. To majors. In Australia.

What a joke.

you know the last Chemical Brothers album? Came out pretty late here. Seemed to be an afterthought just as they decided to tour Australia.

The Chems are on Virgin, which shares the SAME office space with all the others over here (but it's still not a cartel, right?). Now Virgin decided that the Electronic Music market in Australia wasn't big enough to push a million-selling act like the Chems here.

So what kind of push was I gonna get with MY demo? I keep laughing to myself at how stupid I must have been... posting off discs and telling myself that the majors would invest money in me that they wouldn't spend on an act that was (at the time) in the soundtrack of every box-office film.

Nope... waste of time. I'm doing pretty well, and I'm not contractually bound. Gotta love that!