The bogus Record labels are as necessary as like fish needs a bike!

I just came out of a meeting for record labels. Yes, record labels have organization meetings as all other business organizations. I have been a member for the past 25 years, so it was fun meeting people that actually do the same things like your self and really indulge in record label nerd talks. Before the meeting, I meet up with another label that used to be active in this local organization but now is in the bigger worldwide organization. 

She just said I don’t care any longer about the local chapter. It’s really too low quality on the members to be even considered as working in the music business. In reality, they are worse than the artist themselves on their job. It is mainly a junkyard of people that are employed by organizations to give out music in a really bad way. My belief is that the artist would do it much better themselves then being pampered by these bogus so-called record labels.

And now when I write this it popped up on my social media feed, adds on a supervision company marketing that suddenly you can also add your song for distribution on their platform. I guess placements didn’t go that well? And then a company where you can create songs and collaborations with others just added on taht you can also publish the songs by them. I don't know would you feel okay that your real estate provider worked out of a hot-dog stand?

Yes, there are too many people and companies that just offer a bad version of what a real record label should be able to offer. Sure you can use any of the public distribution services for DIY artists. They are not great. If your goal is to have the song on Spotify they work fine. It’s not for professional releases with real marketing but you can say to your friends that you are on Spotify. But to be middle hand for those sites? That is not okay!

Releasing today is not to get the song on to Spotify. That is easy. The hard part is the PR part where you have to work against the social media bubble to try to break into new bubbles and have every algorithm against you. That is the reason why no one is not discovering your music when you put it up there. It has nothing to do witch way it came in. It's about how you market it. No marketing and the chances of being discovered even to the lowest playlist is almost zero.

Here is the service a real record label actually can provide. If it is a real label! Right now I see too many people acting like middle hands for artists to even do the simplest of stuff. Like a government organization opening up a record label for artists that uses their rehearsal rooms, using a DIY distributor. What is the point? You fool the artist thinking that they got a record deal? In reality, you just move their files to someone else that distributes it to Spotify. Then the artist thinks you are great just because they are on Spotify. In reality, you just broke every chance to market the stuff. 

Not the organization has no clue about marketing. Nor has the supervision company or the collaboration company. I can’t imagine they have staff working with all the strange songs that are in the making all the time. They don’t have any intention to even spend money on any marketing. Instead, it’s just another of these 99 % of the 40 000 tracks that are uploaded to Spotify each day. A good question would be how even there are handling things like ISRC codes or even simple matters like information around who wrote the song. Things that actually is crucial for you as an artist to get paid!

Back to the meeting with the local chapter I was visiting. It was horrifying when you looked onto who was actually claiming they were a record label. 60% were artists that were giving out themselves, and none of them are successful and probably would need the advice from a real label around song quality, PR, and stuff. 35% were those middlemen that are failed musicians that now work for organizations claiming to be a label. Then you had three real labels, run by old people. In reality, their prime time was over 20 years ago. One was asking what TikTok was, just saying. I got only one “real” label in the meeting that knew what they were talking about.

No there was no good time to chat about the industry. The knowledge was not there. The real people had moved on to the worldwide organization. I guess real record labels are on extinction. There are a few ones left and if you work with them, they are great. But they act on a really high level. 

Like the plastic destroying the oceans the bogus ones are spreading out fooling artists to use a service to go to another service and the DIY can’t really promote either. In the end, the artist is stuck with a bad deal with no one telling them what they do wrong or how to improve. 

Like the fish in the sea that will be gone of our pollution, the artists and talent will die by fake hopes to get their music heard.

The record deal make it go backwards.

We should get a record deal! Said the band. Oboy here we go again was my first thought.

I usually ask back what should the record labels do? So far I really never got a good answer. The myth is strong in this case. The record label mythical will fix your career and you get more fans can tour etc. It would take you forward.

And it was true, twenty years ago when they controlled the gateways. Yes, there was a structure then and you needed them to get your music out. Today to get your music out you can upload it yourself with the same effect as them.

Today the gateways are free. You have the same power as a record label to reach people. They are up against the same hard work as you do. So how do they solve that? Money!

Yes, you need Pr money in this new world. And if you are a world artist like Kate Perry the record labels would put a lot of money on your career and do a lot of jobs. 

But you are not Kate Perry so that will not happen. Instead, you are more trapped than ever.

Since you are so small what most labels provide nowadays is problems. Suddenly a bunch of people wants to have their say around your songs, your look, your career. On top of that they don't contribute to anything it's mainly just talking. And all this talk and thinking will slow you down.

Most of the time a record deal is a step backward, not a step forward.

So should we just don't work with labels?

No, you need them, but you are on them too early just because you think they build your career. You need to build your career yourself until they approach you with a deal. When they approach they will have things to contribute with, and then it's a step forward.

I guess the error is that when and where you seek them out.
Before you seek them out to develop you.
Now, you develop and they come around when you reached a certain level.

Then comes the problem. When you reached that level do you really need them? Or would it be a step backward?

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Here is the secret to sucess in the music industry!

Yes, the secret to success is to understand that it works like any other financial market! I don't get how people think that someone would put in thousands of dollars in a project that clearly only will generate 100 dollars.

In their head s they will be signed to a record label that should put in a hell of alot of marketing (since that is what they are doing with Kate Perry) to their next release. Never crossed your mind that they can easily see that your past 10 releases never went over 500 000 streams which would mean that you have got in around 1000 dollars.

For that money, you can't even hire a good PR agent to send it out. Why do you think a record label would get on with such a lousy deal?

In reality, if the deal is shitty they won't do it. The laws of the finical things are here also. That we are dealing with art won't change anything. A famous auction house won't handle the shitty painting that some unknown painted. But a much uglier painting painted by Winston Churchill they would go for. Is it a newly discovered masterpiece of michalangelo , well they they really would go for it.

It's all that we expect what should come in. To get that deal with anyone you need to creat a plan a momentum so we people are ready to invest in you. Are you still just a couple of thousand followers on Facebook and just 10000 streams on Spotify and a couple of hundred streams on youtube. That tells us all that we shouldn't spend that much on you at this time.

would you buy these?

It's like putting makeup on a pig!

I just saw a video from an artist that my friend is handling. It was an okay video or tell the whole truth, in reality, a very boring video. I know they spent a hell of a lot of money in this video. The problem is that the artist wants to be a lot of indie. They rent hell of a lot of equipment a good director and people around it. In reality, they could have done a good video with really great shots. The artist wanted a dark video like some Susann Osten vibe ( a famous Swedish director that really can't film, more like a 10-year-old with a video camera ).

It's more like the artist really don't want it to be good because if it is good someone could critic the video. Now the artist can face the critic with that that people don't understand the real message because it is artsy fartsy.

In reality, there really is no message. It's just lousy pictures done with a hell of a crew. In reality, it actually could have been shot with a cellphone. No blame on the director she tried but was forced to do this crappy shit because the artist wanted it.

I asked my friend why he let it go through? He wasn't satisfied either. He answered that it was like the artist was afraid of success and kept smashing good things to pieces. Same with songs the artist took the songs that the record label didn't vote for, and used the ones that no one really liked. And of course, the PR team hated the video still it has to be released since they spend so much money on it.

It is like putting makeup on a pig! was his word around how the PR team would try to get this to a decent audience.

I guess success can be scary.

Do we have a deal?

What really annoys me is when an artist is trying to change a deal just because things have changed. Imagine I get to you with a great new company idea. I will open a juice bar that serves a new juice of an apple and a pear that just got on the market. I need money to open the restaurant and to the PR. There is no safety that this new apple and pear will even take off, in fact, the first tree is just ready to get fruit in a couple of months. But you need the money now so you have to take a risk that it will work.

The more money you put in the more percentage you will get. So we strike a deal that you take 50% of the risk. The part you will do is also shouting about on the social media since you have really many followers and do some work in the juice bar for no payment when we open the bar.

Everything is fine and the juice bar opens. And the apple really takes off, it comes out it's really healthy and everyone wants it. The pear is going okay, but not as good as the apple which is a success.

The money that you lent me is got back to you. But no profit so far, you will start getting profit from it. Then I come back and start talking about that we should change the deal. You can still get a percentage of the pear part but the apple, well it was my trees and you already have gotten your money back. We should change the deal.

Not nice huh. I mean you took a risk just getting me the money and now when we finally get some I want to cut you out?

This happens all the time. When you then say no they go around and tell that you are the evil music company. You invest in their record and then when you get a hit they don't want to give you the percentage that we agreed on. That you took a risk, well you knew it was a hit so it was no risk. All that work you did for free since you calculated to get it later. That free work was just for fun.