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WTF do labels do for promotion we cant do ourselves?

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Give out stickers at skate parks... oh wait.

Basic A wrote:WTF do labels do for promotion we cant do ourselves?

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yeah you can do it yourself but do you really want to pay to promote your stuff? or just tell your mates about your latest tunez!?o!

sure, you can do all that stuff yourself. if you have a few grand to spare, getting your tunes out to 'names' unless you're well connected will cost upwards of £300 plus vat. that's some sample packs and some hardware you could buy instead.

they also spend time building relationships with radio/distributors/the public, and hopefully make themselves known for the sort of music they release, meaning you automatically, as an artist, get a certain amount of kudos/weight for being on a good label.

but mostly, they allow artists to keep on doing what they do best, make music, while they do the paperwork and admin. i mean the model has changed over the years, but artists haven't. most of the ones i know prefer to make music, so long as they have an amount of control/say in what happens with their stuff at a label.

Basic A wrote:WTF do labels do for promotion we cant do ourselves?

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spend a lot of time promoting? that I can't be arsed doing myself

midnightminustwo wrote:sure, you can do all that stuff yourself. if you have a few grand to spare, getting your tunes out to 'names' unless you're well connected will cost upwards of £300 plus vat. that's some sample packs and some hardware you could buy instead.

they also spend time building relationships with radio/distributors/the public, and hopefully make themselves known for the sort of music they release, meaning you automatically, as an artist, get a certain amount of kudos/weight for being on a good label.

but mostly, they allow artists to keep on doing what they do best, make music, while they do the paperwork and admin. i mean the model has changed over the years, but artists haven't. most of the ones i know prefer to make music, so long as they have an amount of control/say in what happens with their stuff at a label.

Yeah but these mickey mouse labels don't understand the industry or have any contacts. I wish people would stop sending tracks to people who don't have even the faintest business plan. The next new label on here will be tore a new one.

when you sign a tune to my label, you are being endorsed by me personally

and that might not mean shit to some of the people that are new around here, but people like me have been cultivating relationships with dj's and other artists from around the globe for the last 4 years (in dubstep), dnb and hiphop even longer.

so getting a RogueDubs promo is not like getting some kid's private soundcloud track, you are getting quality music that you know will have staying power on the dancefloor

oh and the list of names I send these promos out to is weighty... to say the least

midnightminustwo wrote:they also spend time building relationships with radio/distributors/the public, and hopefully make themselves known for the sort of music they release, meaning you automatically, as an artist, get a certain amount of kudos/weight for being on a good label.

but mostly, they allow artists to keep on doing what they do best, make music, while they do the paperwork and admin. i mean the model has changed over the years, but artists haven't. most of the ones i know prefer to make music, so long as they have an amount of control/say in what happens with their stuff at a label.

well said

I'd also like to add....

website... bandwidth and hosting fees. also updating the facebook, the myspace, the soundcloud, etc...

even listening to demos takes time and energy

Staying on top of the game involves much more than the average artist wants to think about

FSTZ wrote:when you sign a tune to my label, you are being endorsed by me personally

and that might not mean shit to some of the people that are new around here, but people like me have been cultivating relationships with dj's and other artists from around the globe for the last 4 years (in dubstep), dnb and hiphop even longer.

so getting a RogueDubs promo is not like getting some kid's private soundcloud track, you are getting quality music that you know will have staying power on the dancefloor

oh and the list of names I send these promos out to is weighty... to say the least

I know labels do alot of work and the real prominent labels such a yours are hugely different to some idiots thinking that it's easy.

That's my point.

^^cheers man...

I started RogueDubs about 3 years ago thinking it would be easy and I was gravely mistaken

I now have 3 people that help me out - 1 does promotion, 2 are A&R and we all meet on Fridays and listen to demos over a few drinks.

I have removed myself as "the face" of the label so I too can be an artist. it's pretty difficult to wear that many hats in one day.

I'm not special by any means.. anyone can get some tunes together and start a label, but trying to do it right is another thing

and please don't get me started on the vinyl side of my label, talk about a stressfull venture

but the rewards outweigh the stressors ten fold

midnightminustwo wrote: they also spend time building relationships with radio/distributors/the public, and hopefully make themselves known for the sort of music they release, meaning you automatically, as an artist, get a certain amount of kudos/weight for being on a good label.

as an artist you need to be doing this, irregardless of whether or not a label is doing for you.

btw, labels do this for the RELEASE, not the artist.

Chances are a label has a far greater network than you do. And this is a major part of getting your name out there.

But it depends on what kind of label you approach (or approaches you).

But yeah, as Shamarji said - you have to do some networking on you own too. This is how I got to know FSTZ and Deej for example.

Jason

Getting your track signed to a label, whether the label be good or bad, still gives you good promotion for just that, when you see peoples sigs with banners promoting there new release, you know they are serious about things and it makes them look better as artists. It doesnt mean there track(s) are better than the next unsigned bloke, but it does give a professional look, and with that, more professional promotion i spose.

Doesn't answer your question in the slightest, but labels take you more serious if you already have a release, so your promotion is more powerful, to put it one way.

Out to all the people running labels anyway, i doubt they ever get enough praise for the work they put in.

I just can't be bothered with it anymore really... This sending demos, networking blah blah. It's a game that gets me down and sends me around in circles. I have a (relatively short) list of people I send my tracks to, and apart from that I think I'm just going to stick my stuff on soundcloud for the 40 plays or so and just enjoy it myself.

grooki wrote:I just can't be bothered with it anymore really... This sending demos, networking blah blah. It's a game that gets me down and sends me around in circles. I have a (relatively short) list of people I send my tracks to, and apart from that I think I'm just going to stick my stuff on soundcloud for the 40 plays or so and just enjoy it myself.

When I start too feel that way I focus on channeling it into energy too make better tunes and then, I have better demos...

Basic A wrote:

grooki wrote:I just can't be bothered with it anymore really... This sending demos, networking blah blah. It's a game that gets me down and sends me around in circles. I have a (relatively short) list of people I send my tracks to, and apart from that I think I'm just going to stick my stuff on soundcloud for the 40 plays or so and just enjoy it myself.

When I start too feel that way I focus on channeling it into energy too make better tunes and then, I have better demos...

but then you have to start the sending demos crap again

Sharmaji wrote:

midnightminustwo wrote: they also spend time building relationships with radio/distributors/the public, and hopefully make themselves known for the sort of music they release, meaning you automatically, as an artist, get a certain amount of kudos/weight for being on a good label.

as an artist you need to be doing this, irregardless of whether or not a label is doing for you.

btw, labels do this for the RELEASE, not the artist.

Yes it is a lot easier to move tunes where the artist is active in promoting themselves.

depends on the label. unfortunately the plethora of new digital labels means they are two a penny being run by people in it for a quick buck.

a lot of them won't promote you, won't communicate with you professionally, won't master your tunes properly, will lie to you about how many units you've sold and then still not pay you the amount they lied to you that they owed.

its sad but true, and has happened to me personally and many of my peers.

my advice is work with labels you trust. dont sign to labels that you've never heard of before. integrity is key in any industry to guarantee longevity so make sure they're legit.

check them out, see what they're doing for their artists, ask around to find out what other people think of them.

dont think that because you have a contract that its legally binding. if the label is in a different country to you, the paperwork may not stand up in court or could be prohibitively expensive to litigate.

on the other hand artists should be prepared to go the extra mile to promote their own release as well, its in your interest after all.

the record label exists to take the business of selling music and artist promotion out of the hands of the artist, that's their job. if you feel you could do a better job on your own (and a lot of people do) then more power to you. A lot of artists I respect have built their own fanbase from the ground up, their music empire from scratch and prefer to do it their own way. Thats great but thats time away from the process from writing music, and a lot of hard work.

youthful_implants wrote:depends on the label. unfortunately the plethora of new digital labels means they are two a penny being run by people in it for a quick buck.

a lot of them won't promote you, won't communicate with you professionally, won't master your tunes properly, will lie to you about how many units you've sold and then still not pay you the amount they lied to you that they owed.

its sad but true, and has happened to me personally and many of my peers.

my advice is work with labels you trust. dont sign to labels that you've never heard of before. integrity is key in any industry to guarantee longevity so make sure they're legit.

check them out, see what they're doing for their artists, ask around to find out what other people think of them.

dont think that because you have a contract that its legally binding. if the label is in a different country to you, the paperwork may not stand up in court or could be prohibitively expensive to litigate.

on the other hand artists should be prepared to go the extra mile to promote their own release as well, its in your interest after all.

the record label exists to take the business of selling music and artist promotion out of the hands of the artist, that's their job. if you feel you could do a better job on your own (and a lot of people do) then more power to you. A lot of artists I respect have built their own fanbase from the ground up, their music empire from scratch and prefer to do it their own way. Thats great but thats time away from the process from writing music, and a lot of hard work.

I wish there was some way to prove to the artist how much was sold. I have had artists ask to see the spreadsheet from the distro and I would but I feel like the artist shouldn't see what the other artists are making, I dunno. I am not trying to rip anyone off but the check ends up being stupidly low every time. But yeah there are a lot of crap labels out there. I work with one unnamed label that I feel has done it for the most part professionally but they will release 3 or 4 releases a month and have very little quality control. I mean I at least give each release 2 weeks of my time to make sure I do the best I can do. Throwing out 20 tunes at a shot means the label make their quotas but there isn't much left over for the artist.

Artists have to realize too that the labels cut doesn't go into the pocket, it is used for webhosting, soundcloud, front for merchandising, front for mastering future releases etc, etc, label owners are never compensated for the time involved, as an artist you have to help out how you can. If you get the attitude that the label is supposed to do ALL the work... well that is your opinion but it isn't going to do you any favors. If anyone is getting rich off of other peoples tunes it is most certainly the download sites. 50% of gross profits is way too much for the service they provide imo.

it should be written in the contract that you can, once a year, examine your sales, or get an accountant to. if any label says no to putting that in your contract, then walk away. if they say fine, no problem, it's unlikely they'll be fleecing you. although, as alex says, it happens.