Chapter 8
Label Operations
Contents
Artists and Repertoire: How Labels Pick and Develop Artists
Perform, Perform, Perform. Then Perform Some More
In an era when every level of the food chain within the entertainment industry is being scrutinized as to its value, record labels are being squeezed from both sides of the equation. Record sales are diminishing and retailers are looking for more profit in the product. And as technology advances, artists see an opportunity to completely circumvent the “label deal” and sell directly to their fans. The challenge for labels is to create value for both sides of the equation: create various “products” that draw consumers into retail stores on a consistent basis AND create a loyal fan base to sell product to—which is not as easy as throwing a site onto the world wide web and expect for fans to come! It takes the creativity and business acumen of a team that is savvy to today’s technology, but understands long-standing business tactics that can endure strong competition and challenging economic situations to win in today’s music business.
Every record label is uniquely structured to perform at its best. Often times, the genre of music along with the “talent pool” of actual label personnel dictate the organization and inner-workings of the company. As talent is signed to a label, the “artist” will come in contact with nearly every department in the process of creating a music product for the marketplace.
A typical record label has many departments with very specific duties. Depending on the size of the label, some of these departments may be combined, or even out-sourced, meaning that the task that the department fulfills is hired out to someone not on staff of the label. But the end result is to be the same—create a viable music product for the marketplace. In the structure below, there usually is a general manager/sr. VP of marketing who coordinates the all the marketing efforts.
Getting Started as an Artist
As talent is being “found” or developed, the first contact with a record label is usually the A&R Department. The Artist & Repertoire Department is always on the hunt for new talent, as well as songs for developing and existing artists to record. But before the formal A&R process occurs, the talent has to be signed to the label.
Contract
A contract may take months to negotiate. Depending on the agreement and nature of the deal, the artist/manager/lawyer may sign a contract a year or more prior to street date of the first release.
Accounting
Once an agreement is reached, the accounting department will distribute “advances” to the artist, as outlined in the contract.
Business Affairs
The business affairs department is where the lawyers of a label reside. Record company lawyers are to negotiate in the label’s best interest. Most often, new talent will have a manager and lawyer working on their behalf, with the contract in the middle. Clearly, the label wants to protect itself and hopes to reduce risk by maximizing the contract.
Besides being the point person for artist contracts, label lawyers negotiate and execute many other types of agreements including:
- License of recordings and samples to third parties
- Negotiate for the right to use specific album art
- Point person when an artist asks for an accounting or audit of royalties
- Renegotiates artist contracts
- Contractual disputes such as delivery issues
- Conflicts with contract such as guest on another
- Vendor contracts and relations
Oftentimes, the accounting department falls within business affairs, since the two are related regarding contractual agreements and financial obligations. The accounting department is the economic force driving all the activity within the record company. It takes money to make money, and the accounting department calculates the budgets for each department as it aligns with the forecast of releases. Most record label accounting departments have sophisticated forecasting models that calculate profitability. Each release is analyzed to determine the value of its contribution to the overhead of the company. This analysis is examined in the profit & loss statement, which acts as a predictor equation as to the break even of a release and its future value over time. (P&Ls are discussed at great length in chapter 9.)
Additionally, accounting department acts as an accounts payable/receivable clearinghouse, managing the day-to-day business of the company such as payroll, leasing of the building, and keeping the lights on.
A&R
The A&R process, from securing the talent to finding the musical content can take months. Ideally, masters should be delivered four months prior to street date.
Artists and Repertoire: How Labels Pick and Develop Artists
The truth is: there is no next model. Show me 1,000 talented musicians, each with a unique style and personality, and I’ll show you 1,000 ways to make a career in music… there is no longer an off-the-shelf solution.
—Amanda Palmer
Being the A&R person is the job most people want at a record label. They see the glamour and the glory of being the person that discovered the next big act that changes the music scene, hanging out in the studio or backstage with big name acts and getting their picture in Billboard and Rolling Stone. What they don’t see is the countless hours and late nights listening to bands that aren’t that good and never get signed; hours away from the family and the high turnover rate because you are only as good as the last act you signed. Or the repertoire part of the job—helping the artists find just the right song for their next album. In a smaller music company or record label, the A&R person may also be the person in charge of creative and marketing (Passman, 2012). As the title indicates, the position has two different tasks: signing new artists and helping all the label’s artists select the best songs to advance their careers.
Discovering Artists: The A in A&R
Arguably, the single most important talent of a good A&R person is to identify and sign successful artists. Their bosses are likely to overlook a project going over budget if it is a big hit, while bringing the recording in on budget will not advance your career if the record does not sell. A good A&R person is such a valuable asset that they are often considered in the valuation of a record label in a merger or acquisition. While other departments in the combined companies will probably be merged and downsized, successful A&R persons will be retained from both labels (Krasilovsky and Shemel, 2007)—as long as they continue to be successful.
One of the pluses of the A&R job is that every day is different. The primary tasks of A&R are to discover and sign new artists to the label and help all the artists find good songs. Different labels put more or less emphasis on different resources for discovering potential new artists. Although in recent years some artists have been discovered on the Internet and gone on to great success, this is only one of the many sources used by A&R to find new talent.
Producers as A&R Men
Independent and label staff producers are one way that artists land recording contracts. Producers are in a unique position to discover and promote an artist by using their talents as an instrumentalists or background vocal-ists on another artist’s recordings, thus gaining exposure for the unsigned talent while developing a professional relationship. One of the most famous examples of this is John Hammond who, as a talent scout and producer for Columbia Records, discovered and produced Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, and many others (Yano, 2014).
Purchasing an already produced master reduces the label’s risk. Many artists will work in conjunction with producers to create a recording, with the idea that the producer will market the master, the master will be purchased by a label, and that the artists will secure a recording contract. Again, the label knows what its getting since it has the final product, the master, in hand.
An example of this is Matchbox Twenty, who was produced by Matt Scerlatic prior to landing a record deal. As the story goes, Scerlatic felt that the band had the talent and took a “flier” on producing the act. He “shopped” the deal, landing a record contract with Lava, an imprint of Atlantic, and the rest is history. With multiplatinum selling records and top-of-chart hits, Matchbox Twenty continues to make relevant music nearly 20 years after their 1996 initial release.
Attorneys and A&R
An established entertainment attorney with connections in the industry may be willing to take on an unsigned artist in a “shopping deal.” For a fee, ranging from an hourly charge plus expenses to a percentage of the artist’s advance when a deal is signed, the attorney will pitch the artist to their connections in the industry. The artist is paying the attorney for their industry contacts. Before signing such a deal, the artist needs to do their research and determine the attorney’s stature in the industry. Have they successfully made such deals in the past? Do they represent a number of artists and are they well respected in the industry? To the point, do they really have the contacts they claim and can they do the job you are hiring them to do?
The attorney has to believe in the artist as well because their reputation is at stake, and that is no small risk. Like any person doing a sales job (like a song plugger pitching songs to an artist or producer) their product is their credibility, so if the attorney is not passionate about you and your music you probably should keep looking. Another major deal point is the duration of the shopping arrangement. Assuming you have entered into an exclusive deal with the attorney then you need to negotiate an end date so that if he is not successful you can move on.
Publishers and A&R
Perhaps the A&R department’s strongest allies are the publishers who sign and promote their singer-songwriters to the labels in hopes that a record deal will result. Publishing companies want their writers to have recording deals—it is a guaranteed outlet for getting their catalog recorded. It makes sense to “train up” a singer-songwriter that writes his or her own hit songs in the hope that their songs will run up the charts and generate both mechanical and performance rights revenues for the publishing company. So publishers have their own A&R people and sign artist-writers that they believe have the potential to be recording artists. Examples of successful artists that were developed through publishing companies include Florida Georgia Line (Big Loud Mountain Publishing) and Taylor Swift (Sony/ATV), who was signed as a songwriter at age 14.
The publisher will finance the recording of demos and pitch them to record labels. These development deals usually give the publisher six to eighteen months to secure a recording deal for the artist-writer (Brabec and Brabec, 2011).
A recent big “hitter” that falls in this category would be country rockers Florida Georgia Line, who started as writers for publisher, Big Loud Mountain Publishing and Management companies. As part of the deal, the duo were produced “in house” by Joey Moi, whose recording credits include Nickelback and Hinder, who assisted in giving the music its edge and party component that got this band noticed at a time when “bro-country” couldn’t have been bigger. These songwriters-turned-artists have not slowed down since they’ve landed on the charts.
American Idol, The Voice, and Other Reality TV
American Idol, launched in 2002, has been an absolute television phenomenon placing no less than 64 finalists on the Billboard charts 345 times in the first 10 years (Bronson, 2012). Although they are often criticized for their iron clad, all-encompassing lifetime contracts, would-be contestants wait in line for hours for an opportunity to audition. By the time a contestant reaches the finalist stage they have hours of television exposure, thousands of fans and probably a single playing on radio. It is an A&R department’s dream. Winners receive a recording contract and other finalists may be picked up, at the label’s option, for a development deal or a full contract. Successful alums of “American Idol” include Kellie Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Kimberly Locke, Adam Lambert, and Clay Aiken, among many others. Even some non-finalists, like William Hung, have managed post-show success (Bronson, 2012).
No other reality competition show has come close to matching the A&R success of “American Idol.” The most successful contestant thus far from “America’s Got Talent” is classical singer Jackie Evancho, who finished second in 2010, the show’s fifth season. She was 10 years old at the time. “The Voice,” which first aired in April 2011, is yet to produce the same level of post-show success for any of its contestants. “The X-Factor” has also failed to produce a hit single as of yet but several contestants have released albums that charted in the top 40.
Part of the success of “American Idol” is probably because it was the first show of this type (at least in this century), but more likely it is the fact that it provides a more complete development package for its contestants. Even while they are still competing, contestants will have singles sold on iTunes and played on radio. After the season is over finalists will go on tour, performing both as a group and solo, on as many as forty dates during the summer and mostly in smaller markets where fewer shows may be available.
Fitting In
If your band and your music are way out there, bleeding edge kind of stuff, then you should not expect your buddy who just got a job at a major record label to be able to get you a deal. If you and your music are a risk then only somebody at the label with an established record of success is likely to persuade the higher-ups that you are worth a chance. And remember, the A&R person is taking a big risk even promoting you to their bosses. Too many misses and they may be coming back to you looking for a job as part of your road crew! Regardless of where they are on the scale of musical tastes, artists have to capture the attention of A&R through their music, personality, and work ethic. Labels have limited budgets and they will invest in the artists that they feel are most likely to lead to a commercially successful recording. In the glory days of the business, labels might have signed an artist or two every month. In these more conservative times, the label probably won’t sign more than two or three artists in a year.
Labels also must consider how each additional artist signed impacts the existing roster of artists. If the label already has several solo female acts in the early stages of their career they are not likely to sign another. The label can only support a limited number of artists before they begin to cannibalize their own sales. There have been cases where an artist had to wait years before a label decided it was the “right time” to sign them (Catino, 2014). Once signed, most contracts don’t guarantee the label will ever actually release an album. Sadly, some artists have been signed and kept on label rosters for years, then cut without ever releasing an album.
Repertoire: A&R After the Signing
The ultimate job of the A&R department is to acquire masters (recorded songs) for the label to market. To do so, labels obtain masters in several ways. As in any business, labels need to manage risk. Repackaging and remastering previous recordings is the safest way to produce a master. By creating compilations of known artists with successful sales histories, a master is produced. How it is marketed eventually will determine its success, but the label knows what it has from the start. A successful example of repackaging would be the Beatles #1 reissue (still the number one selling artist on the EMI/Universal roster).
A&R is not a traditional marketing function but, depending on the level of involvement and input after the signing, A&R has a lot of impact on the marketer’s job. The A&R person that brought the act to the label may heavily influence song choices and branding.
A&R’s primary objective in this development process is to find the best possible songs for the artist—to develop their repertoire. Songs, like artists, may be discovered anywhere, but the most common sources are the artist themselves or a publisher. Songs have also been discovered from other artists (covers), producers, and unsigned writers. Sometimes that means that the artist-writer, the one with the record contract, has to be professional enough to accept that somebody else’s song may be the better choice for their album than their own song.
The riskiest of masters is that of signing an unknown artist. Record labels must feel that the talent warrants a contract, with an ear in the creation of the master. Labels take many approaches to this process. But each project has similar determining qualities, such as which songs should be recorded, how many songs will be included, and who will produce the sessions. Along with the artist, the A&R department designates a producer or producers for a project. Trust is placed in the producer, who needs to be compatible with the artist and hold the same vision that the record label has conceived for the act. The success of a project can pivot on who produces. Some producers are very “hands on” with regards to the creative input, by sharing the cowriting role or playing on the master itself. These producers tend to lend credence to the project and assist its marketability. One example is Alicia Keyes and Ludicris debut releases, both produced by Kanye West, who became a notable producer on Jay-Z’s albums, and who has become an artist in his own right.
Other artists may need less of a heavy-handed producer, but more like subtle guidance from both the A&R department, as well as producer. Song-writing artists have a unique quality since both the content, as well as the creation is open to direction. And these artists can have strong ideas as to their music and how they want it produced. But A&R representatives can take very active roles in the direction of the project, by aiding the songwriting process and nurturing the recording through the entire timeline. It all depends on what the label is looking for in the final product.
Artist Development
Once a contract is signed, an artist usually assigned an AD representative, 12 months prior to street date.
Creative Services
As the A&R process evolves, a photo shoot is needed to represent the content of the recording, six months prior to street date.
Artist Development/Relations
Sometimes called the product development department, this department manages the artist through the maize of the record company and its needs from the artist. Madelyn Scarpulla describes them as, “the product manager in effect is your manager within the label” (Scarpulla, 2010). Artist development specialists hold the hand of the artist, helping them clarify their niche within the company. Artist development usually develops strong relationships with the artist and artist manager, with other departments in the company looking to artist development as a clearing house, helping to prioritize individual department needs with the artist.
Artist development not only manages the artist through the process such as the delivery of the recording, photo and video shoots, and promotional activities, but looks for additional marketing opportunities that maximize the unique attributes of the act. And in some labels, the AD can assist in the actual grooming of the talent—taking the act from lounge singer to star quality. But the role consists of being a “hub of the wheel” just as the rubber meets the road and the artist gains traction inside the record label company. AD is also responsible for the scheduling and logistics of all the players and keeping the calendar for the act while carving out their place within the company.
Creative Services
Depending on the company, the creative services department can wear many hats. Artist imaging begins with creative services assisting in the development of style and how that style is projected into the marketplace. Special care is taken to help the artist physically reflect their artistry. Image consultants are often hired to assist in the process. “Glam teams” are employed to polish the artist, especially for high profile events such as photo and video shoots, as well as personal appearances.
The creative services department often manages photo and video shoots, setting the arrangements and collaborating on design ideas and concepts with the artist. Once complete, images are selected to be the visual theme of the records and the design process begins. In some cases, creative services contain a full design team that is “in house” and a part of label personnel. Such “in house” teams can insure quality and consistency in imaging of the artist—that the album cover art is the image used on promotional flyers, sales book copy, and advertisements. When there isn’t an in-house design crew, design of album cover art and support materials is farmed out to outside designers. Interestingly, the use of subcontractors can enhance unique design qualities beyond the scope of in-house designers, but there can be a lack of cohesive marketing tools if not managed properly.
Publicity
Creating a press kit for advance awareness occurs shortly after photo shoot, five months prior to street date.
Promotion
Depending on the genre, the first radio single needs to released to garner airplay and create demand. Artist visits with radio can enhance airplay, three months prior to street date.
Publicity
The priority of the publicity department is to secure media exposure for the artists that it represents. The publicity department is set into motion once an artist is signed. The biography of the artist via an interview is created. Other tools such as photos from the current photo shoot, articles and reviews, discography, awards and other credits, are collected into one folder, creating a press kit for each artist. These press kits are tools that are used by the publicity department to aid in securing exposure of their artists and are often sent to both trade and consumer outlets.
Pitching an artist to different media outlets can be a challenge. As an artist tours, the ideal scenario would be that the local paper would review the album and promote the show. Additional activities would be to obtain interviews with the artist in magazines and newspapers that can also be used as incremental content for web sites by these same entities. Booking television shows and other media outlets falls to the publicity department as well. On occasion, artists will hire their publicists to assist in creating higher profile events for the act. These publicists try to work with label publicists to enhance in-house efforts and build on relationships already established.
As artists become more established, many acts hire their own independent publicist to enhance their profile. This additional media punch is usually coordinated between label and indie publicist so that redundancy is avoided, as well as efficiency of best efforts among staff and hired guns.
Radio Promotion
In most record companies, the number one agenda for the promotion department is to secure radio airplay. Although the Internet has created a new way for consumers to find new music, surveys continue to show that listeners still learn about new music and artists via the radio. Typically, radio promotion staffs divide up the country into regions, and each promotion representative is responsible for calling on specified radio stations in that region, based on format. Influencing the music director and radio programmer is key in securing a slot on the rotation list of songs played. These communications often take place on the phone, but routinely, radio promotion staffs visit stations, sometimes with the artist in tow, to help introduce new music and secure airplay.
With the consolidation of radio stations continuing, developing an influential relationship with individual stations is getting harder and harder. But there still exists a level of autonomy within each station to create its own playlist as it reflects their listenership. To strengthen the probability of radio airplay, promotion staffs conceive and execute radio-specific marketing activities such as contests, on-air interviews with artists, listener appreciation shows, and much more.
Sales
By visiting retail buyers, artists can assist in the set-up and sell-through of their record. Solicitation process begins two months prior to street date.
Sales and Marketing
The sales and marketing department sell product into retail, and create visibility of the product at the consumer level. If all the other departments have done their job well, selling the music to retail should be easy, since there will be a pent-up demand for the release. But to insure sales success, the sales and marketing department must create awareness with the gatekeepers.
Many sales departments look to their distributor as an extension of the label brand and are the first line of customers to educate regarding new releases. The distribution company needs to be well informed as to new releases and the marketing plan that goes with them so that they can represent the product to retailers, both physical and digital. To do so, sales departments educate their distributor by sharing with them detailed marketing plans for upcoming releases.
The second line of customers is retail. Sales departments continue the education process by informing retailers as to new releases and marketing plans. In tandem, record label sales reps, along with the distribution representative, will visit a specific retailer together, and on occasion, may bring an artist by to visit with the retail buyer. In this visit, the amount of music that is to be purchased by the retailer, along with any specific deal and discount information, is discussed. Co-op advertising is usually secured at this time as well, with pricing and positioning vehicles along with other in-store marketing efforts concluded.
This department also secures sales initiatives with “interactive” digital portals such as Amazon and iTunes plus exclusive offers through online engagement such as VEVO, YouTube, iHeartMedia, AOL, and MySpace—to name a few. These activities can be marketing awareness campaigns that include single give-aways, pre-sales, and contests that create excitement about new music from targeted artists.
Partnerships and Branding
This department wears a big hat that covers lots of territory. Partnerships can lead to strong leveraging positions that allow for accessing the deep pockets of corporate sponsors to help place an artist in front of millions of targeted consumers. The Rolling Stone tour sponsored by Citi Visa Card gave sizzle to the credit card by allowing special access to a “cool” artist while offsetting expenses for the tour. This sort of partnership leads to ongoing branding opportunities that reach worldwide where all participants win in the equation.
Social Media
The social media department has their finger in every cookie jar! From receiving clearances via the contract to help with artist websites, to the creation of “widgets” and contextual banner advertising for Internet marketing, which is in coordination with the marketing and sales department, as well as the development of tools that may be used as content for online media through magazine and newspaper sites, the social media department can wear various hats. This department can also be responsible for aligning new business arrangements with key digital partners including telecom entities such as Verizon or AT&T, in creating additional exposure for new releases using downloads as the bait. Depending on the company, this department can be a “catch all” for all things “digital.”
Figure 8.1 Major Record Label Timeline
Independent Labels
In an era when album sales continue to decline, the Internet has fragmented the market, and major record labels have tried to maintain their prominence as “creators of superstars,” consumers have been looking elsewhere to satiate their burgeoning musical tastes—and they’re eating from the independent labels’ table. Historically, independent labels have been relatively small in sales stature and were genre- or regionally-specific, tending to react quickly to marketplace trends. Some independent labels strike deals of distribution with the major conglomerates where others find their way to consumers through independent distributors—but all are looking to sell records, either literally or virtually to an ever-fractionalizing marketplace. And this new age of consumership has brought with it an entirely new dimension for “indie” labels—one that can include the surprise of big artists with big sales along with even bigger opportunities.
Fueled By Ramen emerged as one of the most successful independent labels so far, with several of their initial acts going on to major label status such as Jimmy Eat World and Fall Out Boy. Youngster John Janick started his fledgling label from his college dorm room at the University of Florida. Since 1996, he has ridden the viral marketing wave by utilizing the Internet as his label’s mouthpiece to cascade popularity of one band with another. His label has been attributed in creating the “360 Deal” where artists are signed to label, tour support, web promotion, and merchandising deals where Fueled By Ramen and its website acts as the portal for all revenue streams. Panic At the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, and Paramore have all risen to top 200 Billboard chart status via this model, with FBR continuing to evolutionize its marketing strategies with its popular YouTube Channel, as well as sales of merchandise through teen retailer Hot Topic and placement of recordings on the ever-popular video game, Rock Band (Levine, 2008). With what looks like only a dozen staffers, this organization has three folks dedicated to social media with offices in Tampa, Chicago, and New York City.
To look at their organizational chart, Big Machine Records in Nashville, TN is structured similarly to that of any major record label, including their size, which is 85 strong. But what makes them unique is that they are truly independent, meaning that they are not owned by a major conglomerate but act in their own interest and are in charge of their own destiny—and they seem to know where they’re going. With virtually five imprints, Big Machine, Vallory, Republic Nashville, Dot, and Icon, each label seems to have their own “flavor” and artist emphasis with Taylor Swift being the flagship act the drives the entire entity. Taylor Swift was one of four acts in 2014 to sell over over 1 million records and her label controversially pulled her album along with all catalog from interactive streaming services such as Spotify a week after her 1989 streeted (the delay helped her leap over the 1 million mark for first week sales.) The label, distributed through UMGD, negotiated “free agent” status and can sell directly to consumers. Big Machine works on branding itself as well, with the hopes that music consumers will believe in the imprint when the label introduces new artists into the marketplace. As an example, the label leverages its artists by featuring them in a music company-wide campaign called “Outnumber Hunger” that partners with General Mills in feeding hungry Americans.
David Macias, President and founder of Thirty Tigers, states that his company is the “Home of the 60 Deal”—meaning: artists in the fold keep ownership of their masters and are under a record contract only. Thirty Tiger artists net over 70% of the proceeds of their recordings and are not expected to share profits from other revenue sources such as publishing, touring, or film as is outlined in many 360 deals. And this arrangement with the 75 artists that Thirty Tigers currently represent in a marketing and distribution deal are doing well. In an era where labels are struggling to find relevance in the food chain and keep the lights on, Thirty Tigers has increased their bottom line by 75% from 2008 to 2013. By looking for artists who know what they want and are “fully formed” artistically, the label goes to work to create a compelling narrative that will resonate with a specific market. Thirty Tigers looks for artists with a “sheen of authenticity” and finds consumers who attract to it.
Figure 8.2 Thirty Tigers
As an example, the company’s P.R. and Artist Manager, Traci Thomas, wrote a story that was exclusive for The New York Times which shared the compelling story of Thirty Tiger’s artist Jason Isbell and his coming out of rehab, pulling back from the edge—and authored a masterpiece that spoke to the readers. The timing of the story was two Sundays prior to Jason’s latest release, giving many other media outlets a chance to interview him and his first week sales went through the roof. Jason Isbell’s Southeastern release debuted top 10 on the Billboard top 200 and has sold almost 150,000 units to date, a huge feat for an independent artist. Starting in 2002 with two employees out of David’s guest bedroom to running a multi-million dollar company with 22 employees, Thirty Tigers’ business model of marketing, distribution, and artist management works for them because of their unique relationships with their artists, the understanding of outcomes desired by their acts, and their passion to reach a specific consumer in a shifting market that demands the creative approach that Thirty Tigers delivers (Macias, 2014).
So what is considered “success” in the music business today? Some indies have hit it big and compete with majors head on. But there are many smaller independent labels that are making a go at not just surviving, but creating a new model of business where incremental sales on a smaller level are enough to not only keep the lights on, but serve as a creative outlet for many more artists who would otherwise not have a voice to sing. If selling 50,000 records at $10 bucks a pop makes a half a million dollars, keeps an artist on the road, and his small indie label in business for another year—is this success? To the consumer looking for the coffee-house songster whose record may never be heard on mainstream radio—you bet.
Appendix: A&R Advice for the Unsigned Artist
Perform, Perform, Perform. Then Perform some more.
One thing is guaranteed in the music business: if you don’t put yourself out there, if you never perform in public (live or recorded), you will never get discovered. You can tell everyone how good you are but until you show us, we will remain unconvinced. So, play at every opportunity. Play your songs; play somebody else’s songs; perform the national anthem at the local high school game; but perform. Play for free until you don’t have to. Just get yourself out there and create a buzz about how good you and your songs are. Work your social media and when the bars and clubs start filling up to see you then you no longer have to play for free. That is the time to shift gears and give away some music for free and get paid for your live shows.
Give Away Free Music
Giving away music free online gives the artist “social currency” and may attract more fans as friends of friends like their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. It can also build a fan base that rewards the artist’s generosity by buying concert tickets or merchandise. Sure, some people will take advantage of the situation and never give the artist a dime. Sometimes it is because they are using the free download as a trail and they are never converted to a fan. In other cases, they are just freeloaders. Take Radio-head’s In Rainbows as an example. The band gave away the entire album in a “name your own price” deal and fans, after a minimal service fee, paid whatever they wanted. According to Comscore.com, 62% of downloaders paid nothing beyond the small access fee, but the average payment was $2.26 and the promotion grossed $1.36 million in three weeks (Comscore Insights, 2007). Piracy of the album was rampant and the number of units actually sold is disputed (SoundScan list the number at 972,926 as of October 26, 2014), but one thing is clear: the publicity from the promotion was followed by a world tour of mostly sold out shows.
Derek Webb, founder of NoiseTrade.com, did this in 2006. Webb gave away an album online in exchange for a name, email address and a zip code. “In three month’s time Webb gave away over 80,000 full downloads of his album and collected valuable information [from] as many new fans. As a direct result, Derek saw many sold-out shows, increased merchandise and album sales, including a curious spike in sales of the very album that was given [away] for free” (NoiseTrade.com/info/questions). Other artists that have posted songs on Noise Trade include the Lumineers, Fun, and Civil Wars (Hollabaugh, 2013). Alternatives to Noise Trade include Sound Cloud, Topspin, and Bandcamp. Established artists have also packaged free music along with concert tickets as Prince did with Musicology in 2004, Madonna during her 2012 MDNA Tour and Tom Petty in 2014 (Crenshaw, 2012; Lawrence, 2014). So, now that you’re selling the experience of seeing you perform live it is the time to start inviting your friends in the industry and the A&R people to come see your show.
Build a Social Media Presence
Be the Bieb! Or Katy Perry. Both have been on the Billboard Social 50 chart for over 200 weeks. Building a social media presence is now an important part of making yourself attractive to a label or publisher, too. They really do pay attention to those sorts of things—how many Facebook friends you have; how many followers you have on Twitter—and how you interact with your fans on social media. Web presence alone is not going to get you a record deal—some labels only look at your sites after they have developed an interest in you because of your live performances. But the label is going to look at how you are trending on the net—whether you are adding fans at a faster rate or if your fame has stagnated.
Make Professional Connections
Most publishers and record labels stopped taking unsolicited submissions because of copyright infringement lawsuits, so it helps to get to know somebody on the inside, or somebody who knows somebody on the inside. This is not as hard as it might seem. If playing a lot of shows has not caught the attention of the A&R department at your dream label then hiring a lawyer, publisher or manager may be the ticket in.
As noted above, an established entertainment attorney with connections in the industry or a publisher with whom you have already developed a relationship may be willing to take on an unsigned artist in a “shopping deal.” Join organizations of other writers and artists and build a network of connections. You never know where that big break is going to come from.
References
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