|
Post by ilguardianodelfaro on Feb 13, 2020 8:23:27 GMT -5
Hello! As I published my first album (link down below) I wondered why an artist should look for a label in such an underground genre. Do you have any pros and cons to explain? Let's talk about it. ilguardianodelfaro.bandcamp.com/releases
|
|
|
Post by skirmisher on Feb 13, 2020 8:45:19 GMT -5
Couple of reasons I can think of:
Less effort for yourself Less of your own money spent The contacs a label might have established Logistics
The last one is pretty important. If you want to spread your records to the US from Europe for example the shipping is tedious and extremely expensive.
|
|
|
Post by stormcrow on Feb 13, 2020 10:40:17 GMT -5
...those were the pros. Now, the cons: 1) labels will earn 100% from the music YOU wrote and recorded. Very FEW labels refund you of a SMALL amount from the digital download. 2) they usually have a specific format. That's why almost every label will change the look of your album's artwork. That could be not necessarily a bad thing, but... 3) no label will offer to you a CONTRACT to sign. This means you're free to release through others or just your own, yes, but it also means that they will earn from your cassettes FOREVER, each time they repress them. And YOUR authorization is not needed. It depends on your needs. Highlight labels like Gondolin, HDK etc give to your music a visibility you'll never achieve on your own, they take care (with great competence!) of each detail from mastering to graphics and they will never ask you a cent for all that (huge) work. Does it worth giving away your own music for free? Let's find out! Hey...I should release a video about that!!!
|
|
|
Post by ilguardianodelfaro on Feb 13, 2020 12:53:02 GMT -5
stormcrow100% of the earnings? I don't want to make my music a matter of money...but it doesn't seem that right...maybe every label has its own policies and deals with the individual musicians. At the moment the only real thing to go for a label seems to be the visibility...
|
|
|
Post by theswordthatsang on Feb 13, 2020 13:39:16 GMT -5
...those were the pros. Now, the cons: 1) labels will earn 100% from the music YOU wrote and recorded. Very FEW labels refund you of a SMALL amount from the digital download. 2) they usually have a specific format. That's why almost every label will change the look of your album's artwork. That could be not necessarily a bad thing, but... 3) no label will offer to you a CONTRACT to sign. This means you're free to release through others or just your own, yes, but it also means that they will earn from your cassettes FOREVER, each time they repress them. And YOUR authorization is not needed. It depends on your needs. Highlight labels like Gondolin, HDK etc give to your music a visibility you'll never achieve on your own, they take care (with great competence!) of each detail from mastering to graphics and they will never ask you a cent for all that (huge) work. Does it worth giving away your own music for free? Let's find out! Hey...I should release a video about that!!! 1) Not entirely true. Plenty of labels refer to the artist's Bandcamp and stimulate the fans to buy the music over their after the initial cassettes are gone. 3) This does not mean that they will earn from cassettes forever as long as a written agreement is made for a concrete amount of copies. This does not have to be a contract since an exchange of email is already legally binding.
|
|
|
Post by ilguardianodelfaro on Feb 13, 2020 17:09:53 GMT -5
theswordthatsangWould you have any suggestion for good labels...with good deals for us musicians?
|
|
|
Post by stormcrow on Feb 14, 2020 2:09:41 GMT -5
1) Not entirely true. Plenty of labels refer to the artist's Bandcamp and stimulate the fans to buy the music over their after the initial cassettes are gone. 3) This does not mean that they will earn from cassettes forever as long as a written agreement is made for a concrete amount of copies. This does not have to be a contract since an exchange of email is already legally binding.
1) this is true, but it's quite rare among the "top" labels. Anyway, I was speaking generally, of course there are exceptions. 3) I didn't know about this, never heard about agreements regarding a specific number of physical copies. As to me, I have decided to stop releasing with labels. At least with "big" ones. From now on, I'll go 100% on my own or, at best, through small DIY microlabels if interested (and I bet they are! ) .
|
|
|
Post by stormcrow on Feb 14, 2020 2:11:53 GMT -5
At the moment the only real thing to go for a label seems to be the visibility... more or less. That said, your music is good so I guess you won't have any problem in finding a distributor/producer.
|
|
|
Post by ilguardianodelfaro on Feb 15, 2020 10:44:23 GMT -5
Thanks. I will be asking to some labels to listen...and eventually I will think if it's worth it
|
|
|
Post by DieuxDesCimetieres on Feb 16, 2020 5:31:25 GMT -5
I'm reiterating what some have already said here, but here's my 2c. First of all, I don't see much point in releasing your stuff via a label unless they're going to do physical copies. When so, pro's include (IMO): * Cheaper for you - unless it's one of those crappy "pay-to-release" schemes which have become more popular in recent years, the label will pay 100% of manufacturing costs. With some luck, they might even pay for the artwork and mastering. * Better distribution - well, in most cases. The lifeblood of a label is to get their releases out there, so they'll usually have a good distribution network, or work hard to building one. * Visibility - a good label will promote their releases because, again, their lifeblood is getting them out there, to shops and distros and listeners. Promotion might mean forums and FB groups, sometimes even promo submissions to zines and blogs. * Shipping - they'll handle the shipping. Not something to be dismissed as trivial, as packaging and mailing stuff takes a lot of time and material costs can be surprisingly high! * A good label has its own followers, which means you might gain new followers. A good, reputable label might give your project a "boost" just by having your stuff released by them.
...ultimately, what a lot of it boils down to is: the label will do some of your work for you. You can do all of the above yourself, but it'll be a considerable investment of both time and money. Selling your stuff to fans, setting up deals with distros, sending out promos (physical/digital), buying packaging materials and spending hours to prepare and ship orders.
Cons include: * The label will take the lion's share of the income - of course. Usually you'll get a percentage of the physical product as your payment, which you can sell, trade or wipe your bum with, as you please. Sometimes money. And in case of digital platforms, with some luck a percentage of streaming/download income - a small percentage! * You have less control over your product - which means the label can sell it at the price they want to whomever they want and distribute it to any labels etc. they want to, even ones you might not want to have any association with.
Of course, a sensible thing to do is agree on all of these things in writing. Remember, it doesn't have to be a signed legal contract - in most countries an agreement in email is seen as a binding contract! So agree in writing on as many things as possible, at least the following: * In what formats the label will release your album, * In how many copies, * How they will pay you (exact amounts and percentages), * In case of streaming sales, how and how frequently they should report to you, * What rights you license them, eg. are they allowed to do a repress without asking permission first and are you entitled to the same payment as on the initial press, can they use your tracks on compilations without asking permission first, are they allowed to sub-license the release to someone else, and so on * And what rights YOU retain, eg. can you do a new edition on another label without asking for permission, can you release the tracks on compilations, can you license the release to another label, for example for release on another format * What the span of the deal is, eg. single album or a longer deal
In general, the more specifically you agree on things, the better. In case of disagreements in the future, you can always fall back on what you agreed upon before the release. I know some people say contracts and agreements "aren't underground" and everything should be based on trust but really - fuck them! An agreement isn't legal bullshit, it's the foundation of the trust they are calling for!
|
|
|
Post by element0s on Feb 18, 2020 13:02:33 GMT -5
^^^^^^^^^^^
Everyone new to working with labels should read the above post--it's a succinct and accurate layout of the underground artist/label ecosystem.
Any label not willing to discuss or disclose any of the above terms is probably not worth dealing with. It's best to be clear and up front when dealing with this stuff. When discussing deals, just think about your goals as an artist and be sure that any deal you entertain positions you closer to that goal.
If they ask you to co-finance the pressing, drop them like a bad habit. Paying for your own mix/master/artwork/PR is pretty common (but not always a fact!) in the underground world but a label's job, at its core, is to finance and distribute a release to its network. I've been releasing music with labels of varying sizes with hugely varying deals for nearly ten years and I've never once been asked to contribute money to a release in such a way.
|
|
|
Post by ranseur on Feb 18, 2020 17:01:44 GMT -5
This is seeming pretty overwhelmingly negative for some reason so I'm just gonna lay this down.
If you're working with a small label for something like a limited to 50 tape without a contract then the deal is only for the physical copy and maybe they'll sell a small amount of downloads in some cases. You want to discuss that up front. The label puts up the money for the tape and has to break even, you make pure profit on your cut of the tapes. These are very small amounts of money here, it's not like when a big band talks about getting fucked over by a big label.
If you run into a situation where a label is acting like they own the rights to the music without a contract and they're trying to control what you do with the mp3s that's where you might have an issue. I've never personally dealt with that though, but ask about the details up front and it shouldn't be an issue.
|
|