How would you set your own music Label?

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 5:30 am

Which would be the cheapest and most straightforward solution to have your own Label, internationally?

I want to publish my music. Some people have told me “do your own Label”, but it doesn’t seem to be as easy as it seems. What’s your experience?

Any suggestions? Perhaps you don’t need a Label, and can publish your work through other means or commercial entities? Any ideas are welcomed. Cheers.

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 6:46 am

Hi Nestor,

I think it would be rather difficult to run your own label. The difficulty is on similar level to other business, though... To be known yu have to get known first. Nowadays it is possible to enter the business only with extensive advertising. The so called consiousness of a brand is the main factor. Of course it means money. And that's the only first step or a peak of the iceberg in other words... Next is competition (try to competite with majors :-/ ). So I'd suggest you rather find a small but with a good reputation label.

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 6:57 am

Hi Nestor,

There is an excellent series of articles in Sound on Sound magazine (see http://www.sospubs.co.uk) called 'On the Record' that describes all the aspects of setting up a record label. It's up to the 7th part now, but you have to be a subscriber to read them all.

I think you might be able to read the first part, as it was 6 months ago: http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/Sep02/arti ... ylabel.asp

I would recommend subscribing to this anyway, as there are some really useful articles every month.

Hope this helps,
Will

borg · Post by **borg** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 7:50 am

not to discourage you, nestor, but you better start looking for a world where they have 30 hours a day, or cut down on the music making time. you might start saving to pay the phone bills as well.

i know some guys who run their own underground labels (two electronic music labels, one emo/hardcore label). it's a lot of work. you spend heaps of time hanging on the telephone, emailing, running to and from the post office, reading magazines to look for the right ones to advetise in, check on the best manufacturers for cd's, vinyl, booklets, you'll have to make yourself a nice website, maintain it, ...

who will this label be for? your mates? because you won't be making music a lot anymore.

well, all this only applies if you want a 'real' record label. you can also do it the algorhythm way. do a check on his posts when he was talking about his ep project ('no logo' label, copyleft,...).

i know you're a really determined guy, so, what the heck, you just might succeed.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 3:35 pm

hi Nestor,

Andy brought it to the point in a very comprehensive way. We've had a small series in a German mag about the issue which came to absolutely the same conclusion.
To publish your own music you only need an own label for 2 reasons: noone wants it - or are advantages in licensing, contracts and other business aspects.
But you'll benefit a lot if you know about how a label works to pick the right one for your own stuff. Specially contracts and licensing are important. Those publications on SOS are certainly worth the abo fee if you want to go public. Otherwise you might be sorry because you just overlooked some small item - and we don't want that happen to you

cheers, Tom

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 5:58 pm

Thanks very much to you all for your answers.

Allow me to get it a bit farther so I explain myself better:

In fact, what I want (as many of you do want as well), is “to be able to get my music to the shops to be sold”, that’s it basically what I really want to do.

If your music is not very commercial, and this is my case, nobody seems to want to publish it, even if they seriously like it… If it is not commercial accessible music, people will not buy it in quantities enough for them to do some money. For the musician, to sell a few hundreds copies nevertheless, IS good enough to even get a living… This is my point.

I have been told when I was in the UK, that one of the best ways to do a clean business of your own, is building up a “personal-use-Label” to publish and sell your music.

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 4:02 pm

Andy's right, Nestor. And according to your sentences - even if somebody would buy your music you had to put MUCH effort in it. That MUCH can be the whole day or so. Secondly if you don't know the market you would move in it like a blind child...

I'd suggest you concentrate on finding a small label that would publish your compositions or find yourself a good and friendly manager/impressario who would help you. Even if the help would be just turning you in a proper direction.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 4:05 pm

Well, I see it’s not an easy matter, so I’d rather stick to your suggestions guys, cos I can feel you know what you’re talking about… In fact, all I want is to be able to sell my music, I’m not interested in business matters or labels by themselves.

Thanks very much.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:41 pm

Well, I believe that if you don't find any distributor yet, you still can record and realize an excellent quality product without spending a fortune... If you do so, then you'll certainly be in a position to find a distributor or at least have a small scale marketing which will help you to be known and get your music going. A web site is a must, and there are many ways and options for you to find a niche for your music, only you have to get things going out of sheer will power and love of your art. You have a lot of talent, so in the end, determination, dedication, countless hours of work can get you anywhere...
I've been thinking a lot about these issues, and I came to the conclusion that I'm not a businessman, I am a creator in the artistic sense of the term, like you I think... I am fortunate enough that Life put in my hands the right tools to pursue my dreams, so I'll be taking charge of a beautiful recording studio in Montreal's suburbs within a month. I'm thrilled about it and I will also be able to help others getting along with their music... Cause once you have a pro quality product with a soul, it is bound to find its way to the people's hears.
Btw Nestor I'd be glad to cooperate with you in your musical endeavours, so you can let me hear some stuff or share anything you'd like... My email is in my profile.

Post by **garyb** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 11:53 am

well gee,if all you want to do is sell your products on the web or in local stores or from your trunk,print a bunch of copies and you're a record company and your music is published.you can always make a deal with someone else to distribute or publish later either exclusively or not.why make things difficult?design a label,make sure your copywrite is in order and go!

there is no more magic than that.

also,an artist who is no businessman is broke and is likely unable to practice his art.there is nothing wrong with selling stuff.artists who sell stuff try to convince artists who don't that art should not be for sale so that they will have less competition.........(even those who disdain "commercialism" sell their stuff or they die of exposure and starvation.sometimes,being "anti-commercial" is the biggest commercial stance of all....)

don't be scared....

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2003-02-19 12:01 ]</font>

dbmac · Post by **dbmac** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 12:14 pm

Good post garyb - we can all be Indie Labels. Distribution is the biggest hurdle, but getting a finished product ready for distribution (CD/DVD/MP3 etc) is in our hands.
/dave

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 2:20 pm

Well, lucky you Eliam, take advantage of this special situation so… somebody told me today:

Imagine you get $85 per day paid to you through a bank account; if you don’t use the money through the day, tomorrow, the count is at “0” again, and you are given another $85 but tomorrow. What would you do? Obviously, you will want to use the $85 every day.

My friend told me: “This is the bank of life”, you are given everyday about 85.000 seconds and if you don’t use them, they are lost. So it depends on you to use as many dollars as possible during the day.

It’s a nice analogy for a living.

***

Thanks very much for your encouragement; I certainly am interested in doing much with my music, I’m going to be writing you soon.

***

This is more like it Garyb, this is what I’m looking for, an alternative like the one you are talking about. I don’t fear distribution, this is not a matter for me. All I have to do is to reach some shops giving them my music, as simple as that. I’m not thinking on getting into the 40 most important songs of the month or something like that… As you said, all I want is to be able to reach the shops legally, that’s it. My concern is about the legal matter, most of all.

Thanks again, and let ideas come up the way…

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Thu Feb 20, 2003 11:58 pm

Of course, we are all in "business" as soon as we must make a living out of something. What I meant is that some people feel at home in the various activities of running business, like accounting, planning, marketing, etc. Me, I feel at home with a flute in my hands, with a keyboard under my fingers, with a pen and my poetry writing book, etc. This is my trade, and of course it involves some planning, but in essence it is 94.6% of artistic creation. And that is a reason why I am not rich yet, because I stick to that no matter what challenge I must face, and in the end I live the life I really want to live! I guess there must be a balance between creating and building a solid strategy, but I seem magnetically attached to my creation and I have lots of difficulty to stop it to do other stuff, so happy am I in my activity!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 9:27 am

Exactly! This is my case Eliam, same than yours… But to be like that is rather problematic nowadays cos you never get were you need to get. I think you don’t want to be reach, just like me you want to be able to live from music, and that’s it.

We need to balance all this. If we not, we will dry out in the emptiness.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 9:49 am

You mean "rich"? Well, money certainly is not my main concern, but yes I know that through my firm discipline and the quality of my creative work I will reach the masses of mankind and generate much abundance of every good thing, including money! I mean why not? When someone serves the Light, then the Light in return serves that person, and that means much more than the mind can conceive!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:09 pm

Yes sorry, I mean Rich...

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 4:47 pm

hi Nestor,

in Gary's post there's that small sentence
...make sure your copywrite is in order...
The main reason for an 'official' label is that there's something taking care for the result of your work.
Dunno if that Levi's commercial with the yellow puppet and the drumbox 'dam, dadada, dam, da, daaa' run in your country, but the creator could easily make a living for a lifetime (if he's not too demanding) from that 20 seconds loop.
So if you don't expect someone might use part of your work, a good idea or something like that, without asking for permission, you can easily go the way Gary describes.

my best wishes for your enterprises, Tom

Post by **garyb** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 7:50 pm

On 2003-02-20 23:58, eliam wrote:
Me, I feel at home with a flute in my hands, with a keyboard under my fingers, with a pen and my poetry writing book, etc. This is my trade

exactly.one of the thing one can trade it for is money,a MEDIUM of trade.one can also trade directly as in "I sing for my supper". this is business.the other stuff(tricky accounting practices,focus groups etc.) is all designed to discourage the easily discouragable to keep the majority poor.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 11:56 pm

Which is the Algorithm way you are talking about?

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 7:37 am

I found today an interesting proposition for you, Nestor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 62-7206056