Music Career Talk 5

I will always hate Sundays so writing this blog is therapeutic for me and hopefully of help to a few folks trying to advance their entertainment career.
Independent record labels will be the focus today. Why and how? Why because maybe you've grown tired of waiting for someone else to make a decision on your future. I feel sorry for most of the A&R rep's at major companies. It's hard for them to take a chance on an artist when their job and reputation is on the line. For those of you who may not know A&R=Artist and Repertoire.
Lets lean into the HOW. Indie labels run with the same concept as majors. The team is smaller the over head much smaller and the concentration on a per artist basis greater. I have put two indie labels together since the mid 90's. Both times my M.O.and formula was the same. The first thing to consider are the artists you sign. What do they bring to the table? Do they have past success to run with. Better have hit songs (at least in your opinion), better have a great image, drive, determination and focused like a Mo Fo.You're about to invest money, time and lots of B.S.and T. After your roster is formed the product delivery system better known as distribution is next!! There are several ways of going about this task. In the digital world there are lots of ways to get your product out there without a record label, however if you don't really work it, it becomes very difficult to really see success. When I digitally release product sometimes I just give the first song away (great promotion tool) for any one to down load for free in hopes they will love the artist, see them in concert, and buy the full CD.
This is not necessary with every digital release, no two snow flakes are alike and no two releases are alike.
Finding distribution is hard. You can find several distributor's, each covering different regions as I did with T.N.T. Records or a major that covers the world for both digital and physical product. Next you must be able to promote the artist, that means retail promotion, radio promotion, on line promotion and concert promotion. If that seems like a long and expensive pain in the butt, it is!!! Lets not forget public relations. A "P.R." firm acts as the liaison between the media and the artist. A good P.R. company will design and launch an awareness campaign, handle tour press and supervise an artists all important image. In my next blog we will discuss making the above mentioned work. I will talk about the voyage from the signing to the success.
Help me make Sundays better!!!!