{"id":803,"date":"2007-05-22T15:56:07","date_gmt":"2007-05-22T23:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2007\/05\/22\/reasons-not-to-sign-with-the-major-labels\/"},"modified":"2007-05-22T15:56:07","modified_gmt":"2007-05-22T23:56:07","slug":"reasons-not-to-sign-with-the-major-labels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2007\/05\/22\/reasons-not-to-sign-with-the-major-labels\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons Not To Sign With The Major Labels"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. They tell you what to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you following this Kelly Clarkson flap?\u00c2\u00a0 She made an album from the heart, that she wrote.\u00c2\u00a0 What did the label do?\u00c2\u00a0 They shelved it for months, hoping she’d come to her senses and record some more upbeat hit tracks just like the ones she recorded before, positive not NEGATIVE!\u00c2\u00a0 Who wants to hear about Kelly’s love losses, no one in the audience ever broke up with their boyfriend!<\/p>\n

Now you might think Kelly is a mindless twit, with a voice only.\u00c2\u00a0 But she’ll tell you she wrote hit records for others.\u00c2\u00a0 And, she’s sold a FUCK OF A LOT OF RECORDS!<\/p>\n

Used to be selling records gave you leverage…\u00c2\u00a0 If KELLY CLARKSON has no leverage, what hope is there for you, someone selling ONE TENTH the number of discs!<\/p>\n

2. They’re only in the disc business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, we’ll call it recorded music.\u00c2\u00a0 If they ever figure out how to monetize Net acquisition, maybe their fortunes will change.\u00c2\u00a0 But for now, the label only makes money if they sell your music.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll do whatever it takes to sell your music, TODAY, to run up the value of the company so it can be sold to someone else.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll whore you out to corporations (say this to yourself, "Verizon is not my friend."), release multiple singles (if they get any traction at all), do whatever’s best for THEM, not YOU!\u00c2\u00a0 Your career…they might pay lip service to it, but they don’t really give a shit, the employees are probably not going to be IN this business by the time your next album comes out.<\/p>\n

As for labels getting a piece of your touring income, other revenue sources, do you want to marry someone DESPERATE?<\/p>\n

3. They don’t pay you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, they’ll give you an ever-shrinking advance.\u00c2\u00a0 But royalties?\u00c2\u00a0 No one sells enough albums to go into royalties anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 And they own the rights to the recording.\u00c2\u00a0 Terry McBride’s got it right, you want to control all the rights, so you can license INSTANTLY!\u00c2\u00a0 So you don’t have to get someone on the phone to say YES to YOU about YOUR music!<\/p>\n

Oh, they’ll give you money to get started, but it’s like making a deal with the Mafia, they own you, forever.<\/p>\n

4. There’s no one working there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most analysts believe Warner cut its workforce to make its balance sheet look better, to stanch losses, hopefully report profits.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, it’s got nothing to do with whether these people were NEEDED, whether they had jobs integral to the company, just what their salaries and benefits were.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, the company can outsource these jobs, but when you go for a meeting at the label do you really want to sit in an empty boardroom with a speaker phone on a conference call with a zillion temporary workers?\u00c2\u00a0 Whose allegiance is not to this company, hell, why should it be, they’ve got to make their nut every month, they’ve got OTHER CUSTOMERS!<\/p>\n

So, going to the building to work the label…that’s a passe concept.<\/p>\n

And, what if they don’t outsource\/get independent contractors to do the work?\u00c2\u00a0 Will it be done at all?\u00c2\u00a0 And, how well, by the overworked, multitasking employees still left?<\/p>\n

5. They just care SOMETHING hits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The label doesn’t give a shit about you hitting, they just care that SOMETHING breaks through.\u00c2\u00a0 And as soon as it does, your work project goes to the bottom of the pile.\u00c2\u00a0 If you own your own copyrights, own the label, you’re ALWAYS the priority!<\/p>\n

6. They control physical distribution, not online distribution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They can get your disc in stores.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, CAN THEY?<\/p>\n

Online, distribution is close to flat.\u00c2\u00a0 Make a deal with CDBaby, they can get you on all the online services, can get you paid.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t need to be with a major to get into the online store.<\/p>\n

As for albums…\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really think albums will be the definitive format in the future?<\/p>\n

7. Tour support is a thing of the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not completely.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s just about gone.\u00c2\u00a0 And more than ever you need to break on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re doing all the work, why shouldn’t you get all the profit?<\/p>\n

8. They only want you once you’ve proven yourself independently.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’ve created the base, why give up control now?<\/p>\n

9. MTV is dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don’t need a big budget video which won’t be aired anywhere anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 You\u00c2\u00a0 just need a digital camera and Final Cut Pro, maybe even iMovie, and you can create a video for almost nothing and put it up on YouTube where it’s got as much presence, as much priority, as the majors’ efforts.\u00c2\u00a0 And, you control the budget.\u00c2\u00a0 Zillions aren’t spent, and they’re not charged back to you.<\/p>\n

10. Terrestrial music radio is dying.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Pink can go to number one at Top Forty and languish at the bottom of the SoundScan Top Fifty, selling 15k a week, how important is that airplay ANYWAY?\u00c2\u00a0 As for other formats…\u00c2\u00a0 Hot AC doesn’t sell many records, and AOR is an oldies format and the Alternative panel has shrunk to almost nothing and Active Rock…that’s not selling tonnage either.<\/p>\n

11. They specialize in saying no.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music is now about inspiration, made by the seat of one’s pants.\u00c2\u00a0 You have to do business the same way.\u00c2\u00a0 In this fast, ever-changing world, you need to take risks, you’ve got to make snap decisions, you’ve got to be able to say yes, QUICKLY!\u00c2\u00a0 The major is against innovation, it’s hard to get an answer AT ALL, never mind YES!<\/p>\n

You want to give your new track away for free?\u00c2\u00a0 No!\u00c2\u00a0 They won’t even let you SELL IT if it competes with the track they’re working at radio\/in the marketplace.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about artistry, but commerce.<\/p>\n

But, if all you care about is commerce, if you want all your money up front, if you want to whore yourself out to corporations, do whatever it takes to sell your lame, paint by numbers built by committee music, then sign with the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope you achieve your goal and get instantly rich, because after this instant, you’ll be done.<\/p>\n

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1. They tell you what to do. Are you following this Kelly Clarkson flap?\u00c2\u00a0 She made an album from the heart, that she wrote.\u00c2\u00a0 What did the label do?\u00c2\u00a0 They shelved it for months, hoping she’d come to her senses and record some more upbeat hit tracks just like the ones she recorded before, positive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-cX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}