Do You Really Need A Record Company?
We have recently looked at a number of online services that can help the “less famous” bands and artists release their own music to the paying public. Services like Tunecore and CD Baby allow you to distribute your music to a very widespread marketplace and to completely bypass the whole record company thing. But is this what you really want? Wouldn’t it be better to have some record company to throw a heap of cash at you and to look after all the “details”? Maybe, but before you decide to go down that route have a read of what Steve Albini, Producer of Nirvana’s “In Utero”, has to say on the subject in his brilliant article entitled “The Problem With Music“.
“Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course. “
Steve goes on to show a comprehensive budget of what a “real” album costs to release & promote and shines a little light on what the band might end up with once it’s all done. The figures are a little dated but you’ll certainly get the idea.
“The band is now 1/4 of the way through its contract, has made the music industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000 on royalties. The band members have each earned about 1/3 as much as they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a month. The next album will be about the same, except that the record company will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one never “recouped,” the band will have no leverage, and will oblige. The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won’t have earned any royalties from their T-shirts yet. Maybe the T-shirt guys have figured out how to count money like record company guys. Some of your friends are probably already this fucked.”
You really need to read the whole article as it’s an absolute eye opener.
The reason record companies still hold so much power is simply due to the amount of money & other resources they have available. Sure you can distribute your own stuff but how do you pay for a decent recording in the first place? Well, once again the internet and modern technology come to our rescue. In our next article on this topic I will be looking at a new way of financing recordings that doesn’t mean you have to sign your life away.
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