

Indie band turns itself into company instead of signing record deal - condor
http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/40832

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I've quite literally done that before. It worked out OK, but there was never
enough capital to market the band properly and we ended up with about 800 CDs
that still sit in my friend's closet.

The good part about it is that each member gets an equity stake, and people
who are not performers, but also help out the band (guy at merch table,
managers, website guy, recording engineer, etc) can get equity stakes as well.
That way, everyone is invested in making the best product possible, and sees a
tangible return when things start selling.

The bad part was that it was hard to explain retained capital to a drummer. As
soon as the band started to turn a profit, people wanted their money out of
it. It was impossible to convince them that the money would be better spent
marketing the band so that they could sell even more albums/t-shirts.

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endlessvoid94
Interesting. I've been in a band before, but never tried to get signed or
anything serious.

I'd guess, though, that labels have all sorts of resources to make bands
popular that a band "startup" would have trouble tapping into. Do you think
this is correct? Or is it just perceived...

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There were some parts that were difficult, mostly finding vendors. It wasn't
exactly easy to figure out who offered the best/cheapest shirts/stickers/cd
pressing.

Other than that, if you hire an experienced PR person and booking agent, it is
pretty much the same as a record label.

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trickjarrett
This is a fascinating action for both parties. Musicians decry the heavy hand
and unending greed of most Record labels. Now the label has a vested interest
but the band will act independently.

I don't think it's earth shattering in any way, and it's surely not the
direction most bands should go as they aren't always the best at making their
own decisions, and usually they just care about the music and not the business
side of things. Sure a Manager can act as CEO but I still can't see it being a
universal platform for bands in the future. What do you guys think?

It will be interesting to see how this band does!

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tricky
This is very common... at least with the people I know. As an example, one of
my bands formed an LLC, raised $20k in "VC" and went on the road. Once we got
a good enough following, our LLC put together a deal with a record company for
distribution. Everyone was happy and we had a good run.

If I may add a nice rant, I hate it when people bitch about evil record
labels. Seriously, if an artist gets screwed by a label, it is their fault for
not taking the time to learn the business or finding someone who will learn.

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unalone
I have to disagree. Labels are so omnipresent that until very recently, you
couldn't get _any_ sales unless you were attached to a big record label. In
many ways it was a 4-company monopoly.

Now things are easier for independent labels, but it's still very one-sided.
The big names need to be attached to a big label, and that means they're going
to have to get screwed.

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tricky
I don't agree. We were able to get sales (including international sales) by
being on a tiny label run out of a guy's 1 bedroom, ant infested apt in
chicago in 1999.

I agree large labels make it possible to make a good living, but even back in
the day it was possible to eek out a living by touring constantly and getting
distribution from a one-man label.

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unalone
I love the idea, and I'm glad that Normative is getting some attention.
They've got a great sense of what works and what doesn't with the Internet.
Check out www.amodernpromise.com - it's one of the best CD sales pages I've
ever seen.

