p2pnet - rss feed: Forget artistry. Think commerce
p2pnet.net view:- Good Reasons Not To Sign With The Major Labels
1. They tell you what to do.
Are you following this Kelly Clarkson flap? She made an album from the heart, that she wrote. What did the label do? 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! Who wants to hear about Kelly’s love losses, no one in the audience ever broke up with their boyfriend!
Now you might think Kelly is a mindless twit, with a voice only. But she’ll tell you she wrote hit records for others. And, she’s sold a FUCK OF A LOT OF RECORDS!
Used to be selling records gave you leverage… If KELLY CLARKSON has no leverage, what hope is there for you, someone selling ONE TENTH the number of discs!
2. They’re only in the disc business.
Well, we’ll call it recorded music. If they ever figure out how to monetize Net acquisition, maybe their fortunes will change. But for now, the label only makes money if they sell your music. 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. 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! 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.
As for labels getting a piece of your touring income, other revenue sources, do you want to marry someone DESPERATE?
3. They don’t pay you.
Oh, they’ll give you an ever-shrinking advance. But royalties? No one sells enough albums to go into royalties anymore. And they own the rights to the recording. Terry McBride’s got it right, you want to control all the rights, so you can license INSTANTLY! So you don’t have to get someone on the phone to say YES to YOU about YOUR music!
Oh, they’ll give you money to get started, but it’s like making a deal with the Mafia, they own you, forever.
4. There’s no one working there.
Most analysts believe Warner cut its workforce to make its balance sheet look better, to stanch losses, hopefully report profits. 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. 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? 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!
So, going to the building to work the label…that’s a passe concept.
And, what if they don’t outsource/get independent contractors to do the work? Will it be done at all? And, how well, by the overworked, multitasking employees still left?
5. They just care SOMETHING hits.
The label doesn’t give a shit about you hitting, they just care that SOMETHING breaks through. And as soon as it does, your work project goes to the bottom of the pile. If you own your own copyrights, own the label, you’re ALWAYS the priority!
6. They control physical distribution, not online distribution.
They can get your disc in stores. Then again, CAN THEY?
Online, distribution is close to flat. Make a deal with CDBaby, they can get you on all the online services, can get you paid. You don’t need to be with a major to get into the online store.
As for albums… Do you really think albums will be the definitive format in the future?
7. Tour support is a thing of the past.
Not completely. But it’s just about gone. And more than ever you need to break on the road. If you’re doing all the work, why shouldn’t you get all the profit?
8. They only want you once you’ve proven yourself independently.
If you’ve created the base, why give up control now?
9. MTV is dead.
You don’t need a big budget video which won’t be aired anywhere anyway. You 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. And, you control the budget. Zillions aren’t spent, and they’re not charged back to you.
10. Terrestrial music radio is dying.
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? As for other formats… 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.
11. They specialize in saying No.
Music is now about inspiration, made by the seat of one’s pants. You have to do business the same way. 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! The major is against innovation, it’s hard to get an answer AT ALL, never mind YES!
You want to give your new track away for free? No! They won’t even let you SELL IT if it competes with the track they’re working at radio/in the marketplace. It’s not about artistry, but commerce.
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. I hope you achieve your goal and get instantly rich, because after this instant, you’ll be done.
Bob Lefsetz - The Lefsetz Letter
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:37 pm
“It’s not about artistry, but commerce.”
They (the labels) want all the protection and status afforded COPYRIGHT works of art, but want to be able to market/sell them as commodities. I don’t expect to get a poster reproduction of a painting for free, but if they made 10 million of them I expect it to be pretty damn cheap, and I sure as hell better not be expected to pay EVERY TIME I LOOK AT IT.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:16 pm
NINE INCH NAILS Frontman Says His Record Company Is Run By ‘Thieves’
It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it.
http://digg.com/music/NINE_INCH_NAILS_Frontman_Says_His_Record_Company_Is_Run_By_Thieves
from the linked story:
You’re a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?
Oh, I understand that — I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t. But it’s tough not to resent people for doing it when you’re the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD Beside You in Time, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.
Did you have a word to anyone?
Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever”. And I just said “That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard. I’ve garnered a core audience that you feel it’s OK to rip off? F— you’. That’s also why you don’t see any label people here, ‘cos I said ‘F— you people. Stay out of my f—ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F— you guys”. They’re thieves. I don’t blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s— that they pull off.