Is about taking chances.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00c2\u00a0 You couldn’t even call these fans entrepreneurs.\u00c2\u00a0 The only business they had in mind was staying in business.\u00c2\u00a0 Selling enough records to be able to make more.\u00c2\u00a0 Oftentimes they recorded artists just because they wanted to hear the finished product.<\/p>\n
Today’s major labels get the lion’s share of the press, but they’re the last place you’d go for innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 At best, they purchase the rights to successful indie acts.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
And the major labels control the major press.<\/p>\n
It’s like there’s a constant disinformation campaign.<\/p>\n
If the major labels were interested in surviving, they’d change their tactics.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d split in two.\u00c2\u00a0 One entity would be the usual hit machine, signing malleable acts for airplay on Top Forty radio.\u00c2\u00a0 The other would be a nimble enterprise focused on signing that which is interesting, that which can grow.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you tell me how Ke$ha grows?<\/p>\n
And this second entity must be manned by fans, with one suit to keep the books balanced.\u00c2\u00a0 And salaries must be minimal.\u00c2\u00a0 Any further financial rewards must be based on success.\u00c2\u00a0 But the real reward is being able to work in music.<\/p>\n
But the major labels won’t do this.<\/p>\n
So where does this leave us?<\/p>\n
With a lot of bands vying for attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Some good, most bad, and too many playing by the major label rules to little success.<\/p>\n
So if you’re a new act, stay indie.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to, in order to be control of your own artistic destiny.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can’t change direction on inspiration, chances are you won’t connect for more than a moment, if that.<\/p>\n
And indie is about forgetting everybody else and focusing on your fans.\u00c2\u00a0 If your fans are burned out on your music, you must make more, even though others have never heard it.<\/p>\n
Albums are big statements.\u00c2\u00a0 Hooks upon which to hang your marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 But marketing doesn’t work for anyone but the major label acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Artist development is not about growing your audience.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about writing, recording and playing, and finding out if someone is interested.\u00c2\u00a0 Your music is your calling card.\u00c2\u00a0 What the majors call marketing is luck.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’ve got a buzz, someone will write about you.\u00c2\u00a0 Their passion will shine through and you might garner some new fans, especially if the writer has a following himself.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe NPR will even do a story.\u00c2\u00a0 But a passionless squib in the local paper is worthless.\u00c2\u00a0 As are advertisements.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, there are no shortcuts.<\/p>\n
And if you’re really good and have success, business people will come to you.\u00c2\u00a0 Like flies to sherbet.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s when you hire a lawyer and decide who to play with.\u00c2\u00a0 Please hire a lawyer.\u00c2\u00a0 A bad deal can kill a career.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And you don’t want to be with the usual suspects.\u00c2\u00a0 Not unless you make Top Forty music.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a bad fit.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re about instant stardom, you’re about paying your dues, discovering exactly what it is you do that appeals to people.<\/p>\n
Take a chance on someone your age.\u00c2\u00a0 Young and tech-savvy.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone who’ll work 24\/7 on your behalf.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone who’s of the same demo as your fans, who understands them.<\/p>\n
And sure, work Facebook and Twitter and…\u00c2\u00a0 But all of that is secondary to your music.<\/p>\n
In other words, you’re in charge of your own artist development.\u00c2\u00a0 We live in a DIY world.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re waiting for someone to rescue you, to make you famous, you’re delusional.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, in the old days Warner Brothers gave five album deals to nobodies.\u00c2\u00a0 But they really weren’t nobodies.\u00c2\u00a0 They had friends, they were connected.\u00c2\u00a0 Which means you probably never would have gotten your chance anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, you’ve got a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t play with the usual suspects and kill it.<\/p>\n
There will always be a few superstars, culture demands it.\u00c2\u00a0 But the new era is about tons of journeymen.\u00c2\u00a0 Your goal should be to make a living playing music.\u00c2\u00a0 If this is not enough, give up.<\/p>\n
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