Independent artists starting out - album recorded, what now?

Denalihighway

Looking to start a discussion about bands/musicians embarking on an independent music career:

The benefits/drawbacks of record companies are well documented at this stage so I’d just like to discuss the options and advisable routes for people who don’t want to be involved with a record company / publisher of any sort.

I have my own ideas but would definitely like to pick other people’s brains and get some home truths and viewpoints from folks who are more familiar with the industry than I am.

This ‘particular case study’ is based all this on the following assumptions:

- the music is of pretty high quality, and would have mainstream appeal/radio potential
- an album has been completed, artwork done, duplication done etc
- the artist(s) is well in control of and adequately managing website (incl online music store, merch etc), social networking, emails, dealing with designers, promoters and all that malarkey
- the artist(s) is unknown, starting from scratch
- the artist has a flexible day job and does not need money from music to survive

So, if it were me, I would be thinking about 3 main things to start with:

- getting a reasonably large budget together for a publicity campaign around the release. Hopefully some radio play may ensue, hits on the site, sales and would feed in to getting better gigs obviously
- getting a good manager with proven pedigree for gigs/showcases/festivals etc and handling anything interesting that might pop up re publishing/record company offers (I don’t think artists should ever totally rule it out)
- looking in to getting any session musicians required

this is all off the top o me head really, just wanted to open up a discussion and would be very interested in your opinions and experiences…

Denalihighway

no interest no?

ah jaysus...cmon will yiz...humour me

Denalihighway

ok...so everyone has either no plans or else they're too secret to tell...

where's an image for a tumbleweed when you need one

feel free to post if you have any input

geetar

Denalihighway wrote: »

ok...so everyone has either no plans or else they're too secret to tell...

where's an image for a tumbleweed when you need one

feel free to post if you have any input

:pac:

flameboy87

I suggest you simply use that album to send some track to venues and get some gigs. Keep gigging and writing as much as possible. Other then that I cant give you much advice. I don't suggest that you get loads of Albums duplicated with the view to sell or even give for free as you will be looking at them forever in your practice space/bedroom. I suggest you look at who you want to listen to these albums. Is it record labels, managers etc... Just duplicate a little over what you need to be sure you have enough. But gigging is the best possible thing you can be doing right now and hope for the right person to be at one of your gigs.

I'm no expert in this area but its the best advice you've gotten here so far :P

Denalihighway

I hear ya and you're right, its the only input i have so far :pac:. no plans to duplicate loads of copies believe me. in my rehearsal room a band i share with must have thousands lying around...nightmare.

but i don't buy the 'gig and they will come' approach either. that just doesn't happen. if anyone can point to a band who were found recently by someone accidentally happening to be at their gig, please do...its a bit of a myth. not saying it doesn't happen but there has to be some shenanigans going in the background.

no harm is gigging your arse off obviously but for the above to happen, someone, somewhere has to have been contacted and given a heads up i would have thought. or it would have to be a reasonably exclusive showcase of some sort.

i think having some well recorded and most importantly good songs immediately sets you apart as a serious statement of intent. videos are hugely important too again now...Youtube plays are massive.

by the way, i'm not just talking about my own case here, who know what way we'll go but i'm just interested in what other people are doing/thinking

flameboy87

Wel i know Roy 7 got their break from someone spotting them. That's how alot of bands get their these days as most record companies don't even listen to the CD's sent in to them. Gigging gets you tighter as a band anyway so its no harm in just getting out there as much as possible anyway. Other then that I dont think I can help too much

rcaz

Gigging's good, but the time spent preparing for and playing gigs takes away from the time you can spend writing and producing your music... I don't think the two go hand-in-hand completely. Gigs are way different from recordings, and the bands that treat the two as separate ways of working are the ones that stick out for me.

I also think, since so much about the way music works today is different to how it was a while ago, one of the main positive things (for me anyway) is that the emphasis is coming back towards art again. Bands in Ireland are making challenging, not necessarily very 'pop' music and getting written about and exposed around the place - look at Adebisi Shank, Enemies, ASIWYFA, RSAG, and internationally, Explosions in the Sky, MIA... You don't have to be a good pop music money spinner to get listened to and played. I think it's the opposite - the bands with the integrity and vision are starting to be put ahead...

Denalihighway

flameboy87 wrote: »

Wel i know Roy 7 got their break from someone spotting them. That's how alot of bands get their these days as most record companies don't even listen to the CD's sent in to them. Gigging gets you tighter as a band anyway so its no harm in just getting out there as much as possible anyway. Other then that I dont think I can help too much

yeah they may have, and i'm sure other bands have but its much much rarer than people think...if you think about it record companies and their ilk have better things to be doing than hanging round bars to watch millions of bands on the offchance one of them might catch their eye.

showcases sure, but again, it seems you really have to have your **** together, plus the right contact to get in there too.

but as you say, it aint no harm getting nice and tight and having a good live rep

Denalihighway

El Pr0n wrote: »

Gigging's good, but the time spent preparing for and playing gigs takes away from the time you can spend writing and producing your music... I don't think the two go hand-in-hand completely. Gigs are way different from recordings, and the bands that treat the two as separate ways of working are the ones that stick out for me.

I also think, since so much about the way music works today is different to how it was a while ago, one of the main positive things (for me anyway) is that the emphasis is coming back towards art again. Bands in Ireland are making challenging, not necessarily very 'pop' music and getting written about and exposed around the place - look at Adebisi Shank, Enemies, ASIWYFA, RSAG, and internationally, Explosions in the Sky, MIA... You don't have to be a good pop music money spinner to get listened to and played. I think it's the opposite - the bands with the integrity and vision are starting to be put ahead...

i would tend to agree with you on the live front. you need to be a good live prospect but (and this is just a personal thing) i've always felt bands can do themselves a disservice by prostituting themselves too much gig wise.

this is particularly easy to do in a small place like ireland where you can get saturated pretty quick. nothing wrong with a bit of mystery and making yourself into a bit of a commodity - and meanwhile you're writing and recording and getting better at it

hopefully you're right about the more alternative stuff but unfortunately the charts say it all these days on what's actually selling...unbelievable amount of sh*te up there. there always was, but it does seem like rock music in particular is having a tough time.

i guess the key is to be able to bypass this chart bull**** and greedy record companies (they're not all bad though) and tap niche fans, be inventive with stuff like merchandise etc. the direct-to-fan possibilities these days are amazing, its an exciting time. with little or no IT expertise you can build your own website and sell your music and merch off it for a few quid a month.

i guess that's why i'm interested to know what do people want/need/get from record companies anymore.

Rancidmaniac13

Here's my suggestion for this particular scenario.

You should work on trying to get your high-quality music to the right people. To get your music played on ad or tv show seems like the easiest way to leverage what you have to get maximum without having to put in too much on the long-term. Obviously you still have to put in a lot of work networking and making contacts but it would definitely be worth it. The right contacts will come in handy eventually. I'm not speaking from any experience with this approach but I'm just looking at examples of this happening to relatively unknown artists before.

rcaz

Denalihighway wrote: »

i would tend to agree with you on the live front. you need to be a good live prospect but (and this is just a personal thing) i've always felt bands can do themselves a disservice by prostituting themselves too much gig wise.

this is particularly easy to do in a small place like ireland where you can get saturated pretty quick. nothing wrong with a bit of mystery and making yourself into a bit of a commodity - and meanwhile you're writing and recording and getting better at it

hopefully you're right about the more alternative stuff but unfortunately the charts say it all these days on what's actually selling...unbelievable amount of sh*te up there. there always was, but it does seem like rock music in particular is having a tough time.

i guess the key is to be able to bypass this chart bull**** and greedy record companies (they're not all bad though) and tap niche fans, be inventive with stuff like merchandise etc. the direct-to-fan possibilities these days are amazing, its an exciting time. with little or no IT expertise you can build your own website and sell your music and merch off it for a few quid a month.

If you're looking at seriously working as an independent artist, why are you looking at the charts? They're not independent, they're not serious artists, and they're not, for the most part, contributing to music.

Denalihighway wrote: »

i guess that's why i'm interested to know what do people want/need/get from record companies anymore.

Money!

Money would make all this easier, and all that money used to come from the big companies... But they don't give it out anymore, and you don't need it anyway. If the music's good enough and you want it badly enough to work hard enough, you don't need a big budget from someone else to work with.

Denalihighway

El Pr0n wrote: »

If you're looking at seriously working as an independent artist, why are you looking at the charts? They're not independent, they're not serious artists, and they're not, for the most part, contributing to music.



Money!

Money would make all this easier, and all that money used to come from the big companies... But they don't give it out anymore, and you don't need it anyway. If the music's good enough and you want it badly enough to work hard enough, you don't need a big budget from someone else to work with.

don't worry man, I'm not obsessed with the charts...at all. Just interesting that rock seems to be having a really tough time at the moment, far more than before. Its like that in most countries. The singles charts are always a joke anyway, especially when a frog on a motorbike (or whatever that was), which was meant for a ringtone can gain traction. Album charts are more intersting though.

It wouldn't be money i'm interested in re record companies. its the infrastructure re distribution and touring etc that interests me. its the only big thing they seem to still have a bit of a monopoly on, especially for a band starting out (in case anyone point out Radiohead). they can give you that on a plate, contacts, structure etc...can u imagine what trying to do that (even a toilet tour of the UK) would be like? nightmare...

radioplay is still big as well, no matter what people say. its very very hard for an independent band with unsolicited material to get their foot in the door, whereas its wide open for record companies.

perhaps finding a good manager, someone who can make the above happen, but who shares the act's mandate as regards operating in the industry should be the priority? that's what i'd been thinking up to late...and then you start thinking about other things. thinking is over-rated

Seziertisch

In terms of mainstream success, there is a certain amount of luck involved, being in the right place at the right time with the right sound.

The Strokes are a classic example of this, their sounded heralded a new(ish) chapter in popular music, bringing indie guitar music back into the mainstream.

On the other hand, listening to Royseven, I can't help feel that they have missed the boat slightly, their sound is kind of 5 years ago. If they had released their album when The Killers were the thing, they would probably have had a much better crack of the whip. I can't imagine labels on the lookout for the next big thing are thinking lets revive (one of) the last big thing(s).

rcaz

Seziertisch wrote: »

I can't imagine labels on the lookout for the next big thing are thinking lets revive (one of) the last big thing(s).

I dunno, hoover synths were all the rage again for a while :pac:

louloumc89

I've only recent experience with the music industry. I'm in a band, for 3 out of 4 of us it's our first band. We're together properly a year and a half. I do all the pr work. As far as a record label is concerned, I wouldn't say no, but I'd much rather a professional media manager type person. Money is great, but it's hard to come by and if you need it you can do it on a budget yourself. Plus it's far more satisfying.

We're at that stage now where we've recorded an EP, and are just promoting it. We're all in college so we didn't have any money to put into it. We used an american website to raise $1000. Fans could prebuy the album which was really cool and that is how we raised the money to record.

For gigs initially we went with venues that were free to play at or did support slots. But we've started booking our own venues and charging at the door. We've a bit of money from t-shirts and cd's now, so we can afford to play free gigs and cover costs on merch.

Radio play...it's so so important for unsigned bands. I emailed a lot of stations and asked if I could send on a copy of the EP. Dan Hegarty has been playing our new single regularly on 2fm. He's really good about playing unsigned bands. We just did the 2fm live sessions in studio 8 in RTE. Thats a great gig if you can get it. We ran into dave fanning in the lobby and he took a copy of our ep which he ended up playing on his own show.

In regard to budget, we realistically aren't going to have a huge one. If we have an expense, we raise the money from gigs and that. Our live set is good, as is our EP (well we're happy with it ). What you were saying about a proven manager for festivals and stuff. I would have to agree so much. That's what we want. It's hard to contact a festival without a proven reputation. It's hard to get someone to listen to a cd or watch a video if it's been sent from the bass player! haha!

rcaz

Really interesting post lou, thanks for sharing!

Denalihighway

thanks for that Lou Lou - very interesting alright. particularly interesting about raising the album capital on that US site, i think i know the one you're talking (Kickstart or something), there's prob a few of them though.

i always figured you would have to have some kind of track record to attract capital like that so that's really cool you guys managed to get it. when we started recording our album (3 years ago...), i hadn't heard of anything like that and I wasn't really that savvy if i'm honest, just full of p*ss and vinegar and with a day job so lucky enough to have some money for recording. that is deffo something i would consider if i needed to do it for the next project.

do you mind me asking did you have demos or anything that the would-be investors could listen to and was it mostly friends etc that invested?

assume the 2FM session came about as a result of Dan being fond of the material?

well done

louloumc89

Denalihighway wrote: »

thanks for that Lou Lou - very interesting alright. particularly interesting about raising the album capital on that US site, i think i know the one you're talking (Kickstart or something), there's prob a few of them though.

i always figured you would have to have some kind of track record to attract capital like that so that's really cool you guys managed to get it. when we started recording our album (3 years ago...), i hadn't heard of anything like that and I wasn't really that savvy if i'm honest, just full of p*ss and vinegar and with a day job so lucky enough to have some money for recording. that is deffo something i would consider if i needed to do it for the next project.

do you mind me asking did you have demos or anything that the would-be investors could listen to and was it mostly friends etc that invested?

assume the 2FM session came about as a result of Dan being fond of the material?

well done

The particular site we used was chipin.com Only downside was the money was taken in dollars and then converted. It wasn't ideal as we lost some money on the exchange.

We had a demo recorded. We got it for free from Milkblood studios when they wanted to increase their catalogue of work. That was the recording we used to get people to chipin. There were a lot of people that none of us knew that contributed which was cool. But a lot of the people were friends or friends of friends.

The 2fm session came about because of Dan and also a music production manager at 2fm who seems to have taken a liking to us. He emailed us a long time ago, based on the original demo, to see more work. He said if there were more songs like the demo they'd want us up. So after we raised the money to record and sent in the tracks we were up pretty much straight away. Think the best way to get into the sessions might be through dan though. defo.