Is about taking chances.

When oldsters complain that there’s no more artist development, what they’re really saying is labels are no longer interested in signing the outsiders, the weird, the risky, and staying with them for four or five LPs to see what they turn into.

Once upon a time, most record labels weren’t multinational corporations focused on the lowest common denominator in order to generate profits. Rather they were the hobbies of fans.  You couldn’t even call these fans entrepreneurs.  The only business they had in mind was staying in business.  Selling enough records to be able to make more.  Oftentimes they recorded artists just because they wanted to hear the finished product.

Today’s major labels get the lion’s share of the press, but they’re the last place you’d go for innovation.  At best, they purchase the rights to successful indie acts.  The concept of hearing something raw and vital and signing it on a whim, an inner desire as opposed to an Excel spreadsheet/calculation, is completely history.

And the major labels control the major press.

It’s like there’s a constant disinformation campaign.

If the major labels were interested in surviving, they’d change their tactics.  They’d split in two.  One entity would be the usual hit machine, signing malleable acts for airplay on Top Forty radio.  The other would be a nimble enterprise focused on signing that which is interesting, that which can grow.  Can you tell me how Ke$ha grows?

And this second entity must be manned by fans, with one suit to keep the books balanced.  And salaries must be minimal.  Any further financial rewards must be based on success.  But the real reward is being able to work in music.

But the major labels won’t do this.

So where does this leave us?

With a lot of bands vying for attention.  Some good, most bad, and too many playing by the major label rules to little success.

So if you’re a new act, stay indie.  You’ve got to, in order to be control of your own artistic destiny.  If you can’t change direction on inspiration, chances are you won’t connect for more than a moment, if that.

And indie is about forgetting everybody else and focusing on your fans.  If your fans are burned out on your music, you must make more, even though others have never heard it.

Albums are big statements.  Hooks upon which to hang your marketing.  But marketing doesn’t work for anyone but the major label acts.  Artist development is not about growing your audience.  It’s about writing, recording and playing, and finding out if someone is interested.  Your music is your calling card.  What the majors call marketing is luck.  If you’ve got a buzz, someone will write about you.  Their passion will shine through and you might garner some new fans, especially if the writer has a following himself.  Maybe NPR will even do a story.  But a passionless squib in the local paper is worthless.  As are advertisements.  People are only attracted when they can feel the passion and the excitement, which doesn’t come from hype, but people, testifying one to another and occasionally in media.  In other words, there are no shortcuts.

And if you’re really good and have success, business people will come to you.  Like flies to sherbet.  That’s when you hire a lawyer and decide who to play with.  Please hire a lawyer.  A bad deal can kill a career.

And a lawyer can craft a deal that allows someone to run with your music for as long as he or she generates success, otherwise you’re free again.

And you don’t want to be with the usual suspects.  Not unless you make Top Forty music.  The usual suspects only know how to do it the old way. They’re all about the money, and you’re all about the music.  It’s a bad fit.  They’re about instant stardom, you’re about paying your dues, discovering exactly what it is you do that appeals to people.

Take a chance on someone your age.  Young and tech-savvy.  Someone who’ll work 24/7 on your behalf.  Someone who’s of the same demo as your fans, who understands them.

And sure, work Facebook and Twitter and…  But all of that is secondary to your music.

In other words, you’re in charge of your own artist development.  We live in a DIY world.  If you’re waiting for someone to rescue you, to make you famous, you’re delusional.  Yes, in the old days Warner Brothers gave five album deals to nobodies.  But they really weren’t nobodies.  They had friends, they were connected.  Which means you probably never would have gotten your chance anyway.  Now, you’ve got a chance.  Don’t play with the usual suspects and kill it.

There will always be a few superstars, culture demands it.  But the new era is about tons of journeymen.  Your goal should be to make a living playing music.  If this is not enough, give up.