Old paradigms are dying hard in the music industry these days. As the industry shifts and changes, labels are quite literally disappearing. Indie artists who play their cards right – see Amanda Palmer, Ingrid Michaelson and Eleanor Friedberger as prime examples – have hit it BIG without so much as sniffing a major label record deal.
And it’s not just artists who start out as indie that end up that way. There are major players in the industry who’ve gone indie as well. Prince, The White Stripes, Kid Cudi, Cake, Trent Reznor and countless others have parted ways with major labels at one time or another to take control of releasing their own music.
So, here they are: my top five reasons you not only probably won’t get a record deal, but why you DON’T WANT ONE in the first place.
- “Big hands in little pockets” doesn’t work anymore. The old model of artists reaching millions of people and making a “killing” that put big money in their labels’ pockets is over. Now artists are building their careers by reaching out directly to fans who support them, cutting out all those middle men! More money for the artist for half the work ;).In other words, people aren’t buying music from the next hot artist – they are streaming it. The labels know that revenue no longer comes from the sale of the “record” or song like it used to and they’re adjusting accordingly.
- Big labels don’t have budgets anymore – so they have to be more selective. Ever have to make important buying decisions? We know it’s simple economics that you just can’t “have it all.” Labels are the same way. And as their budgets shrink from the lack of demand explained above, so does the amount of money they spend.
- Big labels only want to sign artists with online followings of 50,000+. I had an artist with whom I co-wrote a catalog of 20+ songs – really good ones. We thought she was absolutely primed for a major label, but the rejection letter from Universal came back with this exact reason – “we aren’t signing any artist with a following of less than 50,000.” Here’s where things change for the artist: if you had that kind of a following, why would you WANT to share 75-80% of your profits with a label? You wouldn’t.
- You surrender your creative control. When a major label signs you, they “own” you in a certain sense. Just like a successful company that goes public, you now have investors and shareholders to please. They may think a certain career or creative decision is profitable, even if it’s not what you believe is in your artistic best interest – meaning you’ll essentially be forced to do something you don’t want to do. If you want to make YOUR music YOUR way, this is not going to be a comfortable situation for you.
- In 2012, you have a direct line to your fans. This is the BIGGEST reason you don’t want a record deal. The internet is such a powerful tool – and has been bolstered at least 100 fold with the rise of social media. If you’re good at what you do and promote it correctly online, the sky is quite literally the limit. As friends share with friends who share with other friends and so on, the viral potential grows exponentially. Music is one of those “cool” things people actually WANT to share with each other – and they’re much less likely to feel like they’re being sold to. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS!
Keep in mind, I’m by no means saying there are no positives to getting signed to a major record label. Major labels can definitely get your music out faster and help you leverage yourself. But the odds against being signed not only suggest, but practically mandate you use the new music business model to achieve success as a professional musician.
What are your thoughts? Are you still striving to get signed to a major label? Or are you going for it on your own? I’d love to hear from you – the comments below post to Facebook as well, giving us a great chance to keep the conversation going.
©2012 Cari Cole, Vocal Mag, Inc. All Rights Reserved.