Advice, stories, and anything else you have to say about record companies major & indie

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Hello, everyone. This is CHIPP Damage. I just wanted to hear what kind of things people have to say to those who are interested in getting signed to a record label. I am one of these interested people and a few questions that I have are:

1. Would you choose an independent or major label and why?

2. How does a person make money when signed to a record label, particularly with an independent one?

3. Has anyone here ever had the experience of sending a demo CD or tape out and getting signed or learning some valuable lesson from it?

I have read several articles on the net but still would like to hear some more opinions. I've recently recorded a 4-song demo CD with my band and am debating whether it would be worth sending directly to a big metal label or if going the indie route could get me to an equal level of fame and fortune in the long run. I believe there are some people in this community who are on a label. I hope you will chime in with your own experiences. Thank you very much.

[zircon]

*flexes his Music Industry degree*

1. It depends on what kind of music you do. Major labels are on the decline, but they still have the most resources to promote music. Nobody can do the kind of massive radio, video and media promotion and distribution that major labels can. However, is that really important? Unless you're doing more mainstream styles of music, this probably isn't much of an advantage. Major label contracts are very, very harsh on the artist - you will most likely only get a royalty of 10-15% per album sold, AFTER they take a bunch of cuts, so potentially only $1 from a $16 album. Major label deals are also extremely hard to get. They're basically not worth thinking about unless you are really doing a pop genre.

The term "indie" label can mean a lot of things. There are indie labels which have sold millions of albums, and there are others that just release free albums online. The deals vary wildly in terms, and the labels themselves can either be a college student in his dorm or a fully-funded operation with office space. Still, an independent deal is far more likely to be better for you, and far easier to get. The key is finding a label that is right for you, as corny as that may sound. Do they have a small enough artist roster that they can give you attention? Can they promote your music properly?

2. There are several revenue streams in the music industry. The record label is primarily responsible for revenue from the sale of recorded music. In your deal with the label, you would get a predefined cut of album sales, usually a percentage but possibly a specific dollar amount. The cut may be different for physical and digital sales. Very small labels may sell your album directly, but more likely will give it to distributors, who give it to retailers, who then sell it. Thus, a bunch of people are taking a cut.

The second stream that the label is at least somewhat responsible for is touring/live performance. These days, labels are interested in "360" deals where they get involved with more aspects of your career, and expect a cut of those aspects. Touring was something that previously labels didn't siphon money from, but now, they might. Revenue from touring is further divided into money you get from ticket sales (a percentage, of course) and merchandise sales at the venue (t-shirts, CDs.)

Lastly, you have publishing income. The record label probably won't have anything to do with this, but depending on how they're set up, it's still possible. Publishing refers to money gained through your songs, not your recordings. So, if sheet music of your songs was to be sold and published, you would get a royalty from that. When your music gets played on the radio or on TV, you would get money from that too. Same goes for 'licensing' music for use in film, video games etc.

The big question is WILL you make any money? It depends. A label like Protagonist, which is run by OCR's very own sgx, basically just deals with physical and digital distribution, taking a small cut for the owner and giving the rest to the artist. But they won't be doing anything related to touring or publishing, nor can you expect massive PR/promo efforts, video production, radio promotion, retail marketing, etc. In order for a label to do that stuff they need more of an infrastructure, which means you'll probably be earning less money PER ALBUM.

3. I have released music through two small labels, Protagonist and Progressive Grooves. Progressive Grooves did more promotion and got me on dance music sites that no one else was able to (including myself) but I didn't earn very much money from them in the end. I earned more through Protagonist thanks to a more favorable deal.

Almost all labels these days want to sign people who are already successful. Bands that are willing to work hard for their money by touring, actively managing and building their own website and fanbase, releasing albums, and so on. It is increasingly rare that anyone will take a demo tape and sign someone based on that, though it's worth a shot. I would recommend seeking out regional record labels that specialize in metal music and giving them a shot first, but looking at the big picture, you will be better off if you try to do more on your own before approaching them.

[Meteo Xavier]

Hello, everyone. This is CHIPP Damage.

No shit.

1. Would you choose an independent or major label and why?

The better question is which one would choose you. Artist representation, even to the smallest, half-credible degree is extremely hard to get and every passing minute decreases the chances of getting signed. You typically can't get signed to the majors without major credentials and/or something that will guarantee $$$ $$$ $$$.

I'm not offering the cynical anti-record company view, I'm just saying thats how it usually works. Major companies spend an enormous amount of money on just one artist with advertising, PR, insurance, contingency, connections, they can't afford to represent anyone who can't guarantee them Millions of $.

Indies aren't quite like that, but their issue is that they are usually all filled up already. I've seen it written more than once than you literally have to wait until someone dies before you might get a seat, and then you have to compete with over 1,000 others for that to happen.

And then the money's not great, neither is the exposure, or sometimes even the quality of the record. And even if, God be praised you get your record represented and distributed, I think you have to do it all over again unless it sells like 100,000 copies if I remember right.

Starting small sounds like a great idea, but it doesn't provide credentials. If you were to capture a company rep's attention, you have to provide a resume that shows you were on a record label and how much you sold. If the rep hasn't heard of it, it doesn't count as a credit.

Your best bet is to join a small and up-and-coming and pray to the Good Lord its destiny is to be famous.

3. Has anyone here ever had the experience of sending a demo CD or tape out and getting signed or learning some valuable lesson from it?

Some. Most of my experience is trying to get my manuscripts published with a publisher and guess what? Nearly a year's worth of work down the drain. All these artist representation houses are the same. There is no real way to win other than luck.

I have read several articles on the net but still would like to hear some more opinions. I've recently recorded a 4-song demo CD with my band and am debating whether it would be worth sending directly to a big metal label or if going the indie route could get me to an equal level of fame and fortune in the long run. I believe there are some people in this community who are on a label. I hope you will chime in with your own experiences. Thank you very much.

My advice? Get a job and focus on that and see what you can do with your project in your spare time. You can do small self-pressing and sell it individually until the sales build a respectable number, you can post your songs to those "vote for this VS" sites and see if it gets anywhere.

Additionally, you could try TAXI. You do have to pay them to listen to it (which is usually the red flag calling card of a con-artist) but they actually have a really good reputation IIRC. They send it around to get licensed, and thats always a plus if that works out for you.

Ultimately, although I want to give you the cliche "Follow your dreams and believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything.", the fact is this is the real world and dreams don't come true - thats why they're dreams. The cliche I will give you instead is "Its always worth a shot, but don't get your hopes up."

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Thank you two very much for your useful posts. Although the idea of taking over Europe with my medieval fantasy metal, after careful consideration I've decided to submit the demo to a local label called 413tracks. I have an introduction to them from one of the bands under the label, so that gives me I guess a slight advantage in getting signed. Thanks guys. We'll see what happens.