This is why you really can't release DIY

I'm working with The Magnettes new single "American" and I just see all the things that a DIY artist really can't release right. It's not even possible with them knowing what is needed. In fact most are actually out there written out for free to grab. They can't really access all these channels needed.

Sure there is plenty of outlets for the DIY artist to reach Spotify and some other platforms. Why I just say Spotify is more that is the general DIY artist just cares about Spotify and really nothing else. They think as long it's on Spotify it will get discovered somehow.

Since there are almost 40 000 releases uploaded to Spotify each day. So just start with that you need to have the knowledge to release on a Friday when the official release day is. Just this week I have seen at least twenty DIY artists upload and release on other days. Sometimes even on holidays, like someone would take more notation about that. Just that simple thing can make the DIY release to just go wrong.

There are though so much more to the whole thing. The Magnettes releases in two weeks. Still the PR campaign has been going one for already four weeks. For this release we have six PR teams working on different territories. On top of that we have people doing market PR for just one country. In total the whole PR team is 16 people that need to be coordinated. Even before the single was correct mixed and master, demo versions went out to different teams to determine if they were interested to work with it at all.

For a DIY artist you can't even reach these teams. they only work with artists that are released by professionals because they have all their assets together. I just took a non-scientific survey with our release team on the digital distribution and asked them how many artists actually had all their assets together? One out of a hundred was their conclusion. Can it really be that hard?
For a single, you need, single master, press photos five of them, a front cover for the single, a lyric video, a video, and a press release. It's really not that hard. this is the basic. We saw that in the DIY artists out of 100 releases none had the basics covered. Instead we had to go back and ask for basic stuff.

To make this harder. That was just the basics. On top of this you need to update all your social media, homepages with new material, press stuff, and other things. The five photos should be in a way that it's in different formats so it can fit most situations. The video should be ready before the release of the single, not after release. The biography should contain some cool line that makes people want to read about it, not just that you release a new single. It should contain quotes from the artist and quotes from media on your earlier releases.

Then you have all the hidden outlets. On The Magnettes case I have now added them to 25 different upload places for radio, so the song is in the system. I have also presented the new song to over 250 music supervisors so it can be added to commercials, tv series, movies. And for that I need to have even more assets together like right ownerships, instrumental and clean versions. Then I also have been on our special teams that handle Youtube, so the song can be placed with influencers. I also pre-cleared it for use in sports events. Everywhere it's played it counts. I have also set up all the accounts to measure all the PR activities that we are driving to see what is working and not working.

I have a special relationship with our aggregator so I have personally spoken to them to add this release as a priority release. This can't even be done at a DIY artist aggregator. On top of that I have spoken to my contacts on different outlets, so like china speed on the process so it's on their servers faster. I have pitched it to Spotify and added it to Shazam. Updated Wikipedia. I have also cleared the lyrics so any site that handles lyrics has the right version and on that we get paid every time it's looked at.

Also, I have presented the song for over 1000 industry people to find new ways and stuff to get the songs heard in different ways. These contacts are personal so it's very hard for a, DIY artist, or just tap into this vast amount of contacts.

This is just a small part of all the things that a record label a professional manger does around an artist. In the end releasing as DIY artists are impossible. These outlets are not open to the self-releasing community.

No it's not just that your song is on Spotify. In The Magnettes case we also have secured Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Tencent and more. Things that we have because of our huge network of people. This is also the reason why a full campaign takes almost 10 weeks to go through. The average DIY is mainly put it up with one-week notice and do a couple of Instagram and Facebook posts. No as you guessed that is not enough.

And this is just the basics. We haven't even talked about that your song also has to be good!

Tired of the non artists complaining!

What really makes me cringe is when people take advantage of the disaster itself. When filming the movie Fitzcarraldo the director Werner Herzog tells in interviews later that a crew member got seriously wounded during the shoot in the jungle. The whole crew was running around and try to aid the hurt guy. The main actor Klaus Kinski though calls on Werner and when he gets to him he shows that he is hurt to by a splinter in the finger. Werner explained it later that Klaus probably felt that the limelight was not on him.

I get the same feeling when artists scream out online about their canceled shows. The funny part is that the ones that really scream out almost don't have a career and really not have much to lose. The ones that really getting struck about this are kind of quiet and then they come with some solutions with smart things like online concerts and other stuff. Yes, that is why they are successful and not the others. They solve the problem.

Sure it's not easy to lose stuff and the situation is not good. Still, the ones that really will loose on it, like the staff at the restaurant, the people in the ticket office, technicians and so on I don't see them complaining like the amateur artists that playing like a Shakespeare drama online how bad it is for them. And yes for the others it's theri real job, it actually affects them and I see so many coming up with good ideas and solutions to fight back. It's very impressive.

What's not impressive is the DIY artists. Right now it goes around a letter telling us that Spotify founders should make a fund for the artists since they got the wealth of their music. Here again, signed with a majority of non-artist. Sorry Spotify made it through around ten percent of artists on the platform. And those are not in that crisis for the moment. They probably will care more about their poor employees that they have that will lose money on their canceled tours. I really don't feel that Madonna is in any financial danger closes some dates. I feel though for the festivals, venues and the workers who should have hosted it. Those are suffering.

And maybe with time, this will change. The first to scream is the one that was really not in and barely doing it. They fall off first. And that what we see now. The other ones might start to tell their story later. Those I will listen to

It's like many years ago there was a big fire killing many young people. The days after the fire suddenly some half unknown artists started to do a song where he donated some of the percentages of the sales to the victim's family. The feeling that you got was more that he wanted to resurrect his career and make a couple of bucks out of the disaster. This kind of thing really makes me cringe.

It's like in the disaster the silent ones are the most hurt, the screaming ones are hurt, but not as bad since they are able to scream. Right now there will be people that need more help than the average DIY artist. I feel this crisis will be a divider of the ones that are just wannabees and the real artists. The real artist will adapt the other ones you find later working in government programs.

And in the end, there are more important places that are suffering during this crisis. The hospital personal are really hard-working heroes. All people that keep functions in society going, they are amazing. I just cringe around these attention wannabees. And like someone said, yes price under herer is a bit high.

When the DIY comes around it's dead.

I remember when I started talking about Spotify with my artists around 2009. They were totally uninterested. The industry as well. Just people higher up in the industry was interested.

Then five years later the general industry started to become interested. Now ten years later I see all these DIY services offering things around Spotify. Now the top industry has stopped being interested in Spotify. You know that when the DIY people come around the whole thing is dead. It has run through the whole ecosystem and is now just some basic stuff that is just there.

So what is ongoing. The general industry is just adapting to the showcase opportunity that is ongoing. My guess is that showcasing has its five to seven years left until the DIY comes around.

To avoid being left by the real industry as an event you need to keep away from the DIY people. If showcase becomes more exclusive it might keep their position. 

Right now I'm so fed up with DIY nagging around how they should get into playlists. They still think that if they have many streams their career is made. Right now that is so far from reality that you can get. I have so many proofs with artists with million of Spotify streams that are going nowhere.

And you can't talk reason with the DIY. They think you hide or lying to them when you prove the cases one by one.

I guess the dream is too real and to perfect. You just sit there in your room release a song and then you just become a world star and can do anything. I guess Santa Claus is also real then.

I have just posted a hit on Spotify!

The problem with updating on DIY.

The biggest problem with DIY is that you are always very late to get the latest news and smart things to do. Things that go around in the industry actually comes down to the artist level it's almost one year old. Even with an artist signed to labels we still see that the info of what is going on is not that updated.

I can just compare when I got Spotify in 2010. I got the Beta version and could try it out. I was excited and told all my artist back then around of this new system. they really never cared, the only thing in their head back then was Itunes, in the worst cases, they were still into My Space. It took at least four years before the artist was up to date with what Spotify is and they started to be interested in the new thing. That is four years too late, by then Spotify was already divided and DIY was not in the priority.

Just got a message from one of my friends in the industry explaining to one of our bands that the first hours on Youtube is the most critical one. So hide a video and then do it visible is not that good for the algorithms.
Things like this are the stuff that DIY need to know to be able to make a good release. I guess when this info reaches them it's already out of date. and this one is very small we are talking about hundreds of tricks like this to make things happen.

Many think this info is accessible online. Yes, it is but it's also drowned in thousands of posts of other DIY people with the most strange ideas which are not correct. Finding what is good and not good here is impossible.

I have said it before that DIY is dead. Right now I feel it's more dead then ever. The industry is moving so far ahead that it makes it impossible to do it DIY as an artist and reach any bigger level. Even starting up a new record label and try to fit in the information stream has become really hard. It's all down to the team nowadays.

Don't stress you gonna keep it for life.

Every week there is an artist that wants to take something off the distribution. If you ask why in 80% they are redoing it or improve the release.

- we will just master the track, we didn't have time for that when we released.

- we want to change the picture, we have done a much better one now.

Both things I hear very often.

Stop stress out releases. No one is really waiting. Just because your best friend think it was a while ago you released something you don't have to act on it. You have to live with this release for eternity so make it right from the beginning. Wait to get the right mix and master. Have time to take the right pictures for the cover (as well as press).

It's not good to take releases up and down all the time just because you want to change things.
Do it right from the beginning so keep calm and don't be to excited the product should stay for life.

The demo

I actually got this on this blog post around us seeking new music today:

Bertil Goldberg April 25, 2018 at 4:11 PM
Hi, me and my songwriting partner Marcus Tristan just write new original songs. We don´t perform. But maybe your artists need songs to preform. So here are 15 songs for you and we would very much like a response with feedback. Kindest regards Bertil Goldberg +46 708 987 957.https://soundcloud.com/user-970956183/tracks

Usually, I don't post around a thing like this but here since it is official on the blog and Bertil asks for a response with feedback. I will post the feedback. Not to be cruel but getting some reality to this.

First, you post on a blog. In one way very clever since it reach me directly. Well, to be honest, all other ways also reach me. The first myth to crack that no one is listing. Yes, we do but we don't have time to answer all that we get. Most of what we get in is nothing that we can work with or are interested in. Usually, when people get silence it means that it was not good enough. Not this either, it's just that I'm making an example. Still your post on a blog. If you see when I posted this (6 months ago) I also gave a link to where to send the music. Put on a blog is never smart. That just tells me that you are not in the business and probably will be very hard to make a deal with since you really don't understand the rules.

What rules, well one kind of rule is, if I'm going to use these songs for my artist I really don't want them published in public on Soundcloud. In fact, these are already given out. And to be able to send secret links I actually put the submission page there.

About that submission page. That just shows that you haven't read the text. In there it says we only care about touring artists and not songwriters. I guess you didn't read the text and followed the instructions so why should I listen to your music? And even more, you ask me to give you feedback taking my time going through something I already know won't work. On top of that, you have only given me a phone number.  I have thought maybe calling you up and just say, you suck! and then hang up. It's very taunting to do that, but I guess it's not good behavior.
And really why should I waste my time giving feedback. If you need that feedback hire someone, but I really don't want to spend my working time giving feedback for free. Well, it is your lucky day, I will give you free feedback since I use this as a lecturing post.

Well, we all have the link to the songs. So if anyone is interested to get a  song from this team, be my guest. I went to the song page. Yes, I can see in Bertils message that this will probably never be anything. And even if there was anything I could use I don't think the level of the team will hold for a negotiation.

Normally this would make me just go away. But since I will have this as a lecture about sending stuff I will keep going.

First, don't send 15 songs. There is no way someone will go through that many. Send maximum three of the best ones. Yes i know that you are doing them in diffrent styles still no one will go through it send three of the best ones.

Know your styles. Here are so many genres, and really no one is fitting the real style. Since there are so many songs I made my decision on the title. Went down to the song Ladyboy, just to have a song around Ladyboys is a must hear. And the genre is trance. And this is so far from trance it can be. Though the lyrics gave us a really good laugh.

Then we saw the song "Bugs", just having a song around bugs? In this case about eating bugs and drinking wine with women! And the style is latin. Is someone pulling a joke on me?

Okay, I had to stop. The lyrics are on a young kids level. The songs are things your her on the ferry from Sweden to Finland, but worse. There are no artists with a career that will touch this.

Ther is a reason why we nowadays have really great schools in Sweden for songwriting. I rather take my risk there then having people send me songs. Bertil and Marcus my advice would take a course at these schools. Right now it's not sufficient to be passed on to an artist or be sold.

Still thinking that someone is pulling a joke on me. But on the other hand this morning a guy promoted hos music by sending links where public told people that he has a small dick. No kidding.

More and more that DIY can't be done.

I'm getting more and more from that DIY can be done. Sure DIY with a team works. But totally DIY with the artist is impossible.

The reason is quite simple. The artist can't get enough information to make the right decisions. Then you think, give them that information? It can't be done, you need to have skills to understand and use this information and that would take them away from the music. In reality, you can't do both at the same time.

To make an example. If you are a professional soccer player at the same time you want to be the president of a country. The training and games will make it impossible to get to all meetings and duty a president has. You can't do both things. 

Both also take time to put yourself in the position and know the different rules and get good at it.

Just last week I watched two DIY just crashed their career by doing big mistakes and making assholes out of themselves. The sad part is that they don't even get that they made their career harder, lost opportunities and lost information. In practice, they should stop giving out music that is pestering the online services today.

I would guess we need a new Spotify where you only find music from professionals. Okay, I know Spotify is already doing that in a way. Keeping these off the playlists in different ways. Yes, the last part is the knowledge that the DIY seldom has a clue about.

It's the same with live shows there are systems to keep the DIY off the stages. Usually kind of simple systems, but like I wrote in the beginning that is why we can totally leave the artist DIY, it will never work.

Don't worry about things that won't happen.

I had the funniest conversation. A person that runs a management contacted me on Facebook. Okay saying that it is a management is maybe too much. It's totally new and I have never heard of it or any of the bands. Well, they just wanted to ask a question so I answered to ask the question.

They asked if we took submission on our label. Kind of stupid question since if you go to the home page there is big section how to send music. If you don't bother to do the simplest research you look kind of stupid.

After sending the link I got another message:
-I just sent the song to you, when do I get an answer?

I wrote back that it might take a couple of weeks and that we will be in touch if it's something. Then came:
- Ok, I really don't know what the label has done. Maybe you are not the right label. We are not accepting a deal over 50%.

There are no worries. Right here I know there's no point of listening to it. We won't get deals with people really don't know what they are doing. So worry that we will offer you a bad contract is just not worth it.

Update is very important

Update people. Yes, you really need to update your team. I think I wrote about this a while ago but it's so important I can do it again.

This is really not my strong side either. I try to set up schedules so I can update teams I work with on regular basis. I know through I can be better on it.

Also updating is a really good way to remind people. The art is to do it at the right time. If you update too many people doesn't pay attention to the message. If it is too seldom people start to forget about you.

And update with news what you have done. No one likes messages where you ask what they have done for you lately. Or if you can check that they have done their job properly.

See the whole picture

If I could paint just the mouth of Mona Lisa as good as Leonardo Da Vinci did, it's still not the Mona Lisa.In The Mona Lisa, there are details that are really important. But it's the painting as a whole that makes it a piece of art.

When it comes to developing bands you have to look at the whole picture. I know it's tempting to start looking into details.

What's the point of having a really nice front cover of the album if the music on the album sucks?

I just spoke to a band and they were arguing what their backdrop should look like. My question was how many tour dates they had and the sizes of the stages.
- We don't have any shows booked, but as soon we have the backdrop we will start to book.
The backdrop detail that really doesn't matter, now almost became the downfall of the band in disagreement.

Just a great guitar solo won't make a song. The best microphone in the world won't change that the singer can't sing.

It's always the whole picture. You need to get things along the way when you really need it. Not let the things be the scapegoat to continue one. In many cases start practicing to get better and then add the details so the whole picture gets strong and a piece of art.

Don't promise to much!

I just got some emails from band applying for different things and what is common with them, they promise to much.

One is comparing with the most successful band in Sweden the last 20 years. A bit humble that they are at least equal to this band. Sure I understand that they take some shortcuts in this case. Still, you promise too much. Now I'm expecting that you are at this stage as the big band, and I know that you are not. And I will start to compare and find out the lousy sides instead of the good ones.

It's no point to write that you are the best band in the world since you are not. Same with that they describe their live show like a good energy with exceptional good lyrics and a unique sound. If you claim such things you need to have that. In this case, there is no proof what so ever. Okay if send along live video clips where I can see the energy, I'm fine. Right now the problem is when they talk about an energy-filled show it might stand up to my criteria since I have seen quite many shows and have very high expectations. same with great lyrics. I just heard one song, and no the lyrics are mediocre. Sure when you created something you have these big thoughts, but let other people say these words.Unique sound, oh if I got a dollar for every time I hear that phrase I would have stopped working and bought my self an island and sitting on the beach doing nothing. And like, in this case, the sound is very mediocre.

Is this a problem with just DIY or "demo" bands. Hell no, I'm sitting with a catalog from a big booking company in Sweden. One of their bands I know pretty well and I consider them quite crappy and really has done nothing. In the catalog, it says that they have been "seen" in different big newspapers and tv stations in Sweden. The thing I that I know that since I'm the one who placed them there and they were just mentioned as one out of 10 bands that were going to a showcase festival. Of course, they are not lying, but they write it as they had full coverage around it which was not true. Same with some other things where I know they got coverage since they are close friends with the editor of that newspaper. This is the thing of the music industry you blow things up. But you have to think twice before you really do it, and how you do it.

Mistakes are not bad.

One of the most common comments I get when artist ask questions is, I want to do the right thing/choice. The question is understandable, still, this industry doesn't work under such rules. If it was so simple that you follow certain steps, went to certain schools you will be the new Madonna I guess I could answer that question.

It's the fear of doing mistakes. Still here Madonna did mistakes, still does mistakes. But she will get out of them. The worst mistake is thinking that you can avoid them. It's rather that you learn from them and become stronger.

There is a bunch of rules though that you always bring up to artists when they ask questions. They are good advice no doubt about that but if you follow them like a guidebook you end up halfway career. I have seen so many of these artists that end up in nothing by following the rules thinking that if you do so you get it to go somewhere. And they hide around the fact that they did everything by the book and are grumpy over other artists success with the words, it would be my turn now.

One hit wonders are usually unprepared for the success and haven't done enough mistakes to do another hit and the career falls apart. At the same time, most of these artists take a chance somewhere that pays off. I guess the golden rule is to take chances but just enough so that you can keep up with the success. And the only answer that is right, work hard.

The last hope

The past days have been conversations with artists that don't know what is big or not big.
Sure if you send your music to hundreds of  small blogs and radio stations someone will play you. That doesn't mean that you are going somewhere. Even with support of bigger stations you might going nowhere.

Still I get these conversations, we are hitting it big in Croatia. It's really time to invest in us. How much money are we making?

You tell them, you are not making any money from a very local digital radio station.

That message won't get in their head. And they try to find ways to find these money that not exist. I guess hope is the last that leaves the career.

There is no point of cheating!

When I explain all the steps you have to do to get to certain point in your career, they just stare at you. Then they say "I can't do all that it won't work out". Then they come with "Is there a quicker way, a shortcut".

No there is no shortcut. You can take off things you should do, but that only ends up that things are lacking. One of the more common believes is that money would solve the problem with the gaps in the career. That you invest more in the parts you are really doing. I had that thought as well but when I tested it never worked out. It's like you can see when a  thing is fake.

One of the more obvious things is interviews. The artist that does all the stuff in the way of a career will learn on the way to make good interviews. It's a trial and error thing. If you cheat and jump these steps you have to pay a media consultant to teach you to do interviews. But even that becomes kind of not good. There is no story!

It's like I said before it's all about the story. The cheating artist jumps in the story so it is just one topic. The artist that take all steps has a lot of things to talk about and it becomes natural to bring views up in an interview for example.

Now I can just hear people say "what is cheating". It's a lot of things. For example, you buy a lot streams from some source. Yes, your streams will be up but since they re not real people listening, in the end, it will jump up and bite you. Normally a lot of streams comes that you are entering different circles and that comes with good stories.

Another cheat is to enter a big competition like Eurovision song contest. It's not really cheating, but if you are a new artist you jump too many steps to handle it after the competition. In reality, your only story is that you have been in the competition.

Also getting a number one hit can be cheating. The thing goes to fast and in the end, it's easy to just become a one hit wonder. It's the same mechanism you jump steps that you have to take since you are in a hurry.

So should you always slow down? No, you should do everything. And to do that it will take time. Slow down is another thing that kills your career. That is tomorrows blog post.

See it my way

Yes, this blog is really from the view of the record company and it's for artists or interested people to see why and what is going on. Also, it's because there are millions of blogs around how it is to be a struggling artist. With that, the blog becomes really polarized.

So when I will write about this topic of seeing it one way, have that in mind. I really know that what the industry says are equal offending and hurting and many times should see it the artist way.

Don't insult the people that you work with, or buy services. I had a huge laugh with one of my A&R friends. He called me up after an artist had been in contact and wanted a meeting about future plans. It's not strange that the artist wants that and totally understandable. Still, there are so many times they insult you in this process.

Of course, this record label has just done a great job for this artist and got her on top charts and millions of streams. Now she wanted to know what the future plans were. My friend asked back what kind of plans do you wanna know we are not finished working on this hit single yet.
Of course, the artist was tired of this single it has been out for two months. It still breaks new audiences so the label has been still focussing on it. She wanted a new release where they should do the really big stuff.

My friend was laughing "big stuff" what is the "big stuff". Have I not done "the big" stuff with this single. What she is saying is that we just did a small job on this single and now we are taking forward the big sledgehammer and just push it out. Why shouldn't I have done that with my first releases?

Of course the single has not hit all channels there is, you never do that. I have been in a conversation where the record has been number one on the selling chart and the artist still thinks that radio should have it in a top rotation, or they should have more big interviews on TV.

That is really a way insulting us probably know it. It's like my friend didn't have to present the stuff for TV and magazines and just focused on selling. In reality, he had nagged these people to death to expand the success. In reality, we started that even before the selling picked up speed. These people would have taken it up if they were interested. Nagging again would be just contra productive.

But releasing a  new single could be even more contra productive and kill the first one. This is a thing that the label takes decisions around, not the artist.

We know the artist I just concerned about its career and want it as fast as they can get it. But going into a locker room and yell at the team that just won a match and gave all they got, that it was not good enough you wanted more goals can be very contra productive.



 

Better do things than make one thing perfect!

I get a lot of shit for moving forward with things. People want to wait for the perfect moment and perfect timing to get the most out of it. Sorry, there is not a such a moment. I have seen too many waits for that moment to never find it and lose the momentum.

Here is though a difference if you don't have all your things ready. That is is not what I'm talking about. If you don't have the song recorded don't go out and release it. No, what I'm talking about is when you wait to do gigs until the record is recorded since you are waiting for the recording to be done. Or taking new promo pictures since the clothes are not ready. If you can take two sets of picture move ahead. It's always better to do something than doing nothing and just wait.

If you are in a  position that the things you are working all stands still for different reasons, you just create a new project to make things go forward. Yes, you will get shit like me still you will get things done.

Write new stuff, all the time.

This maybe should not come as a surprise that you have to write new stuff all the time. But it seems like a surprise every time I take it up with artists. Most that work with things want to have the next single before they release the one you just did. In reality, you have to be around 3 to 4 singles ahead. When you come to the really big companies where it takes a longer time you have to be an album ahead.

Yes, I know that you want to get your latest masterpiece on your Facebook feed, but think they you have to be three steps ahead. So now when I hope you have some clam time during X-mas sit down and write a couple of tunes that you can present in January to get them out in April/May.

The excuses that I also hear is massive. we don't have time since we are updating the social media and taking new pictures and my grandma has her birthday and you have to open all your x-ms presents. There really are no excuses, that only show you are not focused enough. I guess the new business is not a place for drugs and rock'n'roll. The pressure is higher than ever so be prepared for the surprise to have new songs always and always write new stuff.

Staaph you stupid idiots!

I got a CD in my snail mail. The first reaction was WTF a CD not seen that in a while! The second reaction, WHY?  Open the letter and got even more confused. For fuck sake why do such a lousy job! I hate to really hang out people, but in this case, I will do it. Mainly since I need to show it with pictures and then you can see who it is anyways. Also because this is so stupid that is to the line of funny. So here is what I got.

First, see that the CD is wrapped (in plastic).

So it's wrapped. As you can see there is no EAN code (barcode the thing you scan in shops). This is a classic rookie mistake. If you got the slightest chance to get into some real distribution network, not having a barcode/EAN is sure way that it will never happen.

Then we go to the letter. Right now I really don't know why I get this CD? It's in Swedish so I have to translate.

Gravejuice Entertainment Company is happy and proud to present Craterface new release, Hawaiian Hocus Pocus.

Very protective of their artistic freedom, their integrity, and extreme cheeking needs. Craterface delivers their own evolution of punk music. The result this time is fourteen hard evidence that punk is not dead or fossilized.

For more information about Craterface and Hawaiian Hocus Pocus contact: their email.

That is it. Then they have done like a classic sales note written Artist, Record number, Label and Barcode.

Yes, you read right. The rookies have a barcode. They have put it in the letter. Well, they have put it there in the graphic so small that you can't use it, and also in RGB color not monochrome. That is beyond rookie mistake.

So back to the letter. I wondered what they wanted. And after the letter, I really don't know. Doesn't say a what they want. Do they want me to sign it, distribute it, publishing it? Well, it's already printed which is not good then we can't get our logo on it. But is it released? It doesn't say any date? Well, let's check Spotify.

And in the bottom yes it's released 2017. The confusing part is that they already have new single out. But wait, if you go into the single that is released (and is not on the CD) you can easily see that is released by another company. My professional guess is that there are several bands in the world calling themselves Craterface. Which makes the whole thing Donald Trump stupid. The best part is that none of the bands has claimed the account. Also, one funny thing is that they all have 282 listeners a month and that NONE of the album songs is on the top 10 popular even though most of them have under 1000 listenings.

What is more amazing is that in the letter it clearly says that GEC is the label. Well on Spotify it says 746086 Records DK. A bit uncertain who really is the master owner.

Well, let' go back to the letter again. So they are very protective about their artistry and integrity. Well, their band name doesn't seem so protected. Then the thing around their artistry. Produce the worst sales letter this side of 1998 is not punk. Then give it out on multinational platforms, not so punk. To do a CD is really not punk any longer that is what old people do. Okay, Vinyl is still somehow a bit punk, but a CD hell no especially not with a digital form to it. Punk's not dead It just deserves to die sang Dead Kennedys and with these pinheads that are just shitting on old fine punk traditions, Jello Biafra is totally right.

So let's check the quality of the CD.

Yes, it's burned, there are no markings. So they have spent a great bunch of money to print this Digifile and then burned the product itself. Then you turn around the CD.

Yes, they have written out the copyright act on it. Now you are really pissing on the punk scene you damn bozo. The punks where against all that shit ya know! :)

Okay, all these errors and I have not listened to the music yet. I could guess their thing was that someone would write about it? They managed to do that! I mean all publicity is good publicity. But no! People that say they are punk and think they belong to something that they don't know a shit about, should not be listened to.

The whole thing makes the characters in Dumb and Dumber to be Harvard top students. At least they gave me a nice topic to write about. I don't really know what they want. Still, I won't listen to it. Why you might ask? With all these mistakes on just this release, there is no way to work with it. It would be a minefield of issues.So say hello to the final destination.

 So a lesson learned, you are better off sending us a link and a message what you want us to do for you.

What record labels seeks nowadays.

We just open our demo submissions. Yes, we already got a lot of submissions. The interesting part is that there are more and more record labels that seek out our services. It is the opposite around.  Before it was the manager's job to seek out a record label that could provide for the PR and the development of the act. It was the A&R that had this on the desk to provide the movement of the artist, at least twenty years ago.

The industry has been pretty unclear the past ten years who is doing what in the new digital landscape. Also, it has been quite unclear what the tasks really is in the digital landscape. We have seen many companies jumping into different roles, publishers become distributors, record labels becomes publishers, booking agencies becomes 360 deals, managers become distributors.

What I see as the main thing right now is to have a person that takes the task forward. In many cases whatever the company is they just wait for someone else to bring in things that take the artist forward at the same time, they are trying to hold on to as many rights as possible. Of course, that is impossible since no one is working for free if you don't stand a chance to get your investment back then nothing will happen. No one will do nothing and all comes to a standstill.

It's rather unimportant who is doing the job as long as new opportunities come to the table in a steady stream. That is why a record deal or a publishing deal or even a booking deal is kind of nothing. In reality, it can just be a friend bringing in opportunities from a good network that could be the solution.

These people that I call the Doers are the most important people. And a person that works really good for one artist might suck helping another artist since the focus is in another direction. To become really successful you probably need three to four Doers that are working with 100% focus on your project. That is a tough task to get going I tell you that.

I guess the new Doer is artist development companies. And yes we are one of the first to call ourselves this. Just check in a couple of years and will have a lot of followers. The trick will be though if they can bring the stuff to the table.

Well if you want to work with Musichelp here is the link to send in stuff.
http://musichelp.se/send-music/

Why not choose the best?

It's kind of obvious. If I buy a guitar I will not be a guitarist. I won't after seen some tutorial videos on youtube play like Steve Vai. Not even if I got Steve Vais guitar I will play like him.

Same with golf clubs. No, I won't beat Tiger Wood in a golf match just because I have his clubs and he will have my olf shit of clubs that stands in the garage. And no one would ever think this way. Except..

If someone is buying a system camera suddenly they are a photographer.

The artist spends hours to learn to play the guitar. Hours of writing the song and modify it to be perfect. Spends money to record it. When it comes to the picture on it they just seek some average joe with a system camera. When the picture is not that good, well then we do some artsy fartsy stuff in photoshop and we got a decent picture. Why is that? You would never just take an average person to play the guitar on the recording, would you?

Even worse, when they can't handle the colors and try to escape by doing the picture black and white, and now it soooooo good. No that is like taking the average guitar guy record the first solo that comes out of the guitar and hook on an echo on it and it's soooo good.

Since I been working in both field I really know the difference. With pictures, I really do know more than an average artist. When it comes to the end I'm the one who is gonna work with this picture in media and social media. A bad picture is as bad as a bad guitar solo.

A real photographer works with shadows and lights it has very little with the camera to do if they are good. In fact, the really good ones can use a cellphone and still makes it good. Same with a really good guitarist, it's not so much what guitar instead how you play it.

This is an error many do with their cover pictures and presspictures. And it shows. I know that it's more likely that you get results with a range of pictures that the journalist/blogger can choose from. Yes, you will get more space on the poster of the festival with good color pictures. No, it's not good that you can't see you face as you are too far away in the picture. It's really easy.

And last no you can't fix a song with some reverb, neither you can fix a bad photo in photoshop.