NRC's are DEAD! FACE IT! Who really buys CD's anymore. I had a friend in the business offer to send me a CD - and actually sent me a physical CD of another act (promotional purposes only - FREE goods). I received the PHYSICAL CD and 'skimmed" the credits, didn't even stop to read the lyrics. I downloaded the other songs that I wanted from iTunes on that CD and was fine with that - I found MORE info on the internet about THAT CD than could have ever gleaned from an 8 page insert (with print that needed a microscope to read) and was able to read MORE about what I WANTED to read - and not what the label/artist wanted me to SEE on the physical CD. And to be honest - I ripped the physical CD into my computer - jumped it over to my mp3 player and that was that - assuming that I even wanted all of the songs, which I didn't - I just wanted a couple...
I'm even considering taking ALL of my CD's and ripping them onto a hard drive (well that's not true - just the ones I actually bought and only the songs I like)- I've actually got 4000 or so CD's of stuff I received when I was in Nashville that I maybe listened to and like 40 whole songs off the entire lot. I don't even think I could get $50 bucks for them on E-bay for a bulk sale. And MANY of them are PROMO GOODS anyway - so what to do with THOSE - can't resell them - so I guess I'll donate them - assuming ANYBODY would take them!
So now we KNOW that NRC and the CD is dead...do we still want to sign with a label? I struggle with that EVERY SINGLE DAY. There's still a place for a major label but they've got it ALL WRONG - they shouldn't cling to the old business model - it's fallen and it can't get up! And LIFE-ALERT won't bring anybody over in a hurry to resuscitate the labels. Sorry but no amount of emergency procedures are going to help...if you haven't made out your living will...then you'll just have to suffer...had you filled it out, we'd pull the plug for you so we could put you OUT of your MYSERY - If IDOL has MORE power, then things are truly SAD! But since you at the Majors have treated your acts like something worse than a dog - more like a beast of burden and the RENTED MULE is now useless with its broken leg.
Be that as it may, there is still a place for a label but about the ONLY place I see it is possibly tour support. You can now buy PMD services a la carte (which is a GREAT IDEA!) I mean if you can raise enough to cut a record (which can be done for SO much cheaper with so many great home studios) - then you should put the EXACT same money aside for PMD. And the P&D part of that equation is NOT nearly as important. You need to promote your record - but you CAN do self-promotion and reach thousands of people if not HUNDREDS of thousands of people if you are willing to work at it!
(SHOUT OUT TO YOUNG MS MELLOT - she's only just out of Berklee and working it big time and putting in more time than MOST of the people that ask me to help them - that INTRIGUES ME - Wow good old honest hard work - what a concept - and using EVERY SINGLE self-promotion tool OUT THERE!)
You need a marketing plan - and most people don't even know what that is - but in my book you can read about it! And you can just read about it online - but a MARKETING 101 course would be better than NO IDEA as to what to do to MARKET your BAND and YOUR SONGS (not cd's, NOT singles, but SONGS!) - Here's a 1 sentence wrap-up of marketing - find out who your core audience is - (who would download your songs AND pay, who would come to your shows, who would buy your merch, who would be interested the MOST in what YOU as a PRODUCT have to offer and focus your energy in building your brand by getting to that MARKET! I mean branding is EVERYTHING - but who even knew what a KLEENEX was and now it has SECONDARY MEANING STATUS in TRADEMARK law. You don't ask for a TISSUE - you ask for a KLEENEX - how did THAT happen - GREAT ADVERTISING AND MARKETING and of course BRAND LOYALTY!
On the distribution side - do you really need a record in Wal-Mart or any other music store - not really! If you have to put out CD's - don't get a distribution deal UNLESS you've got TONS OF MONEY IN PMD to spend - because you're gonna end up with a lot of ship-backs and charge offs and spend more on accounting that you can make from the record! But you can do a digital distribution deal in less than an hour and they take ALL COMERS - so you can have your songs for sale on EVERY PLACE there is to buy a download! Many of these companies can even pick and pack your physical goods if you feel you MUST put out a CD.
But now you've got your studio stuff done, you've got your merch - you're getting a lot of hits at your website and myspace page, et al - people want to come see you - how do you get in front of them?
Do you get a sponsor? Well - that's a nice thing that a company is going to give you some clothes, a guitar, some strings, etc - but you really need is MONEY to get a VAN - and let me just tell you FORGET about the BUS! With the price of gas - that's a ridiculous waste of money and it's NOT GREEN! But what about just getting out on tour - will a sponsor help - sure if you're willing to engage in corporate prostitution. It all depends on what type of act you are - and what you can bring to the SPONSOR - if you're bubblegum pop and can get Wrigley’s to give you some money - hey that's great - but if you're a hard core rock band - what corporation wants to risk working with you. They have to protect their brand! But there are ways - and you don't have to tour the world right away - you can build your tour in REGIONS- and let it grow and let the money that you make from MERCH -maybe CD sale as POP (point of purchase) Sales - and what you can get for playing - but face it - if you're getting $400 a show for 45 minutes to open for a HEADLINER - and there's ONLY 4 people in the band that's less than $80 bucks a day per person after you pay your booking agent and your manager/road manger or ALL of the above. You just can barely eat and sleep in a cheap motel for those rates much less change your strings or drum heads or wear CLEAN CLOTHES for that matter!
But IF you play your cards right - get some GREAT SONGS FIRST - build some interest in THOSE SONGS in any way you can - self-promote slowly build up some cash flow from merchandise, maybe some regional sponsors (or you could get lucky and Budweiser will throw a ton of money at you) - I mean TV and RADIO ads aren't paying off like they used to - the internet is sucking away listeners/viewers like raindrops in the desert. So you could get some money - but if you build it like a business- KEEP as much of the money that you can - you can continue to grow like any other business - 10% growth per year is fine for a lot of businesses - but wait we're playing the young person's game now - if we don't hit by the time we're 25 to 30 - our careers are for the most part OVER! Not necessarily - but this goes back to YOUR MARKET - and YOUR FANS - and will they still be interested in your when YOU and THEY both grow up - that CAN BE DONE! But you can always play music for the right reasons – because it’s what you LOVE to do!
If you get out there and build your fan base - and continue to work HARD to grow that fan base and IF the music is REALLY, REALLY good - people WILL come! You will be on a fast track - and then the labels will come calling - BIG TIME - and instead of trying to suck up to them and let them control your career from the get-go, YOU will have negotiation strength to get a GREAT deal - and then you'll be in front of the WORLD - with THEIR money and YOU will get to KEEP more of that than you would if you compromised from the get-go and sing a REALLY BAD deal! Like the new 360 deals - once you're first single bombs - you're DONE! On, on, on to the next one....
Everything is changing - better get busy if you think that you can keep up with the times!
SM
