How hard is it to get signed to a bigger label?

[stikygum]

Anyone care to shed some light on getting signed to a major label? Major labels seem like the only way to get heard, as smaller labels don't seem to get too many bands popular by their distribution. And I'm guessing this is all based on distribution. The more, the better, and the more people will hear you. Seems like a bigger label will get you heard by more people, but it will also put more pressure on you to make music, and music according to how the label wants it.

 

Are there such things as medium sized labels? That have good distribution, but also are easier to get signed to?

[BlueStrat]

Getting signed isn't all that hard. Getting promotion, distribution, and even getting your record released is another thing altogether.

 

Ask yourself these questions:

1)what are you bringing to the table that would make a label that could do anything for you interested in you?

2)How big an area are you currently touring?

3)How often are you touring?

4) (and this is key) How many CDs have you sold? How many are you currently selling a month?

5) How many CDs worth of original music do you have?

6) What is your current draw (size of venues and crowd size)?

7) Do you have a good booking agent that can get you into concert/ festival venues?

8) Do you have or can you get a road manager and crew?

9) Do you have or can you get a tour bus with a driver?

10) Do you have professionally produced promotion?

11) Are you getting airplay? Where?

12) (This is key too) Is your material commercially viable?

 

These are just a few questions to look at. Keep in mind, the music business at all but the highest levels is on the ropes these days, and big companies just aren't interested in nor can they afford to sign acts that need a lot of development and promo poured into them. At best, the acts they do sign only have about a 20% chance of success (read: paying back the record company and maybe making some kind of profit), and those are bands that are already selling, touring, and have their ducks in a row. The days of Joe Producer or some A&R headhunter walking into the Time Out Tavern in Boise, Idaho and signing some unknown band that isn't already making waves in the marketplace have been over for some time. Used to be, they could sign bands and write them off as a tax deduction if it didn't work out. Today, there are way too many investors and shareholders in the majors to play the game that way.

 

Too many record company guys aren't hip to music. They're MBAs and accountants, 50 year old guys with pony tails and mullets, or bald guys witha Bluetooth phone in their ear. At least the ones I've met. They aren't in business to produce good music, they're in business to make commercial music, and a profit for their shareholders.

 

Really, if you want to make your own music, you're better off to do it yourself. If you signed with a major, I can just about guarantee you they'd want to change and tweak you, your band, and your material until it was barely recognizable, unless your act is so unique that it would stand on it's own (like Buckethead or Radiohead). Then after they turned you into something else, odds are they'd drop you because you weren't selling. I've seen it several times with my own eyes.

[bigdaddydave]

Don't ya ever get tired of crushing people's dreams, Bluestrat? Seriously, though, I agree that you're better off trying to do your own thing on a regional level. Many bands have the goal of getting signed by a major label (straight to the top!) and have no idea what to do when that actually happens-which is when the sharks and vultures usually move in. Believe me, if you have a local following and are selling significant numbers of CD's, someone will come sniffing around wanting to see if they can get a piece of your success.

[BlueStrat]

 

Believe me, if you have a local following and are selling significant numbers of CD's, someone will come sniffing around wanting to see if they can get a piece of your success.

 

 

Bingo. If they smell money, they'll want some of it. Though I would say that the success has to be at a more regional as opposed to local level.

[The*Ataris]

Some friends we've played a bunch of shows with got a call from Rick Rubin, new head of Columbia Records, a few weeks ago. How'd that happen?

 

--Lot's of airplay on a local clear channel station that "broke" The Fray

--They've been selling out small theaters in Denver

--They've been opening for The Fray all summer and have toured regionally on their own.

 

They're younger, better musicians, and better songwriters (in my opinion) than The Fray and the big boys smell money. How hard is it to get to that point? Very, and it takes a couple lucky breaks along the way too.