EnochLight wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021
Yonatan wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021
I see few reasons of benefits for a band or a singer-songwriter to sign a record deal. For certain type of personalities, it still can be the best way, but the independent road seems so much more fun. Yes, it still is hard to make it big, but if the % cut off is gone from a lot of costs, you don´t have to "make it big", one can make it small and still come a long way. I think more and more see the downside of the old time celebrity. What you might gain by being famous, you lose in life quality. Today you can reach out to many who are interested without having to be super extroverted.
Well, to play devil's advocate - if a record label (hehehe...
"records" ) came at you with a deal that offered you a big phat chunk of money up front, professional studio time with industry leading producers and mix engineers, and bank rolled a tour while giving you a cut - I think most people would be hard pressed to say "no". But that sort of deal just doesn't happen these days - or rather, it's extremely rare.
Back in 1980, Duran Duran literally had a bidding war between labels (EMI and Phonogram) that were fighting to sign them after hearing their demo tapes and seeing them perform at various clubs around Birmingham and London. Countless other bands had similar origins throughout the decades - right up until Napster appeared and helped usher in the new era.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the money was right, I'd wager the majority of independent musicians would probably jump at the chance. Risks be damned -
everyone wants to be a star.
Yes, off course it is very tempting if a whole musical industry crew would find it worthwhile to put that much into your music. But the right match and knowing the deal inside out is a must today, having legal escape lanes out of the deal if the either part are not doing its part of the deal offer.
The value of big record companies, are mostly their muscles as marketing machines and contacts, and if needed all the inboard producers/songwriters, publishing experts and juridical staff. But it all depends on how much value the company sees in your potential.
Quite some artists are getting some initial focus, then better options comes along and the artist get left out in the cold while still are bound by a contract, so he/she cannot go independent. I suppose that bigger companies might have more resources to keep the artist at some minimal investment when signed, but the middle or smaller ones might not. I have seen artists become so happy when they are signed, they think it will be their ticket to success, but then in reality, they fall into a limbo. So it is very important which company the artist or band chooses.
I guess the best negotiating chair an artist or band can be in, is if they already have a quite big following and fan base, because that is what matters today when companies can not crack the code of who will attract a crowd and who will not.