To be honest this isn’t a new concept and a vast majority of bands actually do this, or at least start this way, examples include French Prog /Death Gojira, Uk’s Panic Cell, Ted Maul and dare I say U.S.As vomit inducing rock crooners Creed.
The tools available have grown and become more available; you can download Social networking “bots” that scan, add friends and schmoose your new pals like some cocaine crazed idiot at a party. Units (downloads or cds) can be sold via eBay, CDbaby, ITunes etc and marketing/ advertising can be easy as sending your myspace friends a spam fritter via a silver tongued message.
As the internet & web marketing becomes more and more accessible and bands/Artists are more aware that Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites are making music reach further parts so in theory bands themselves now can distribute and sell their music on a small basis without the need of a label.
Sounds good eh?
Well actually this has led to a number of negative effects within the music industry.
One knock on effect is that labels are holding back development deals; it seems that labels & distribution companies have been burned in the past by signing up bands with huge hits and plays on the MySpace counter however once the bands start hitting the road they lack the longevity of a lot of their peers. (This could be why we have had the likes of Glastonbury Festival & Download festival with a lot of older more established artists on the bill.)
This coupled with the credit crunch means that labels aren’t just looking for “the next big thing” but they are now looking for “the next sure thing”
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How do you get your band signed or at least How to get signed?
You used to be able to get label interest from a demo, but not anymore, protools make everyone sound amazing so it seems the only way to ensure genuine label interest is build your facts and figures.
- How often do you tour?
- Where do you tour?
- How many gigs?
- Of the gigs played how many cds were sold?
- How much merch was sold? How many friends on myspace? How many plays? How many cds sold via myspace?
- What was your initial outlay?
- What advertising of cds merch & gigs have you done?
- What media/radio websites have you appeared on?
- What reviews have been received?
- Who have you played with
So it seems it all has to go this way do whether we do decide to approach labels or whether we go alone, the ground work has to be the same doesnt it, so where do we go from here?
Well I’ve just made my check list & Sa-da-ko launches around October so only time will tell, I will keep adding more about the industry as I go on ,but message me on Sa-da-kO page myspace or twitter if you have any views on what I’ve written here or you have any hints of tips from your own experiences.
Until then laters
\m/
sIMo
You're completely right about the "next sure thing" clause; be young, be skinny, be tattooed, be successful. However, for serious music fans, the proof is always in the live shows but a lot of the time, travel costs for this will cripple a band who are funding themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of the Interwebosphere is that you can build a following but unless you've got silver spoons in relevant orifices, a label will be the only way you can afford to travel, record high quality material and promote the band efficiently.
Of course, you could just fuck all this off, collaborate with Timbaland on a song, make a million then retire....