Sweet...I'll keep this in mind.BonsaiK said:
Another question: Where would I go to negotiate with iTunes(or similar places) to sell my music online?
Curious about the music industry? Find out stuff.
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Another question: Where would I go to negotiate with iTunes(or similar places) to sell my music online?
Oh wow... thanks a bunch! I feel like I've been living under a rock, though I honestly haven't seen or heard anything remotely close to the sampling you've given this on the airwaves locally, short of actual stuff from the 80s on the retro channels. Considering that Rick Astley at least has been touring for a few years already, I must be pretty behind on at least the 80s revival stuff.BonsaiK said:
Thanks again, I'll start with these and look around for more.
Lets talk about this more. Do smaller labels need to focus on "image" more than bigger ones and only sign certain bands that live up to that image, or can I sign whoever the fuck I want?BonsaiK said:
Also, where would I find bands to sign? My friends' bands, obviously?
You should look around in the indie scene. MotorFM, which streams also online, is playing lots of indie bands and you could hear the 80's influence for the last 2, maybe 3 years. However, I get the feeling that people, at least those who are part of the indie scene, are more and more bothered by the 80s sound and can't stand it anymore.kibbitz2000 said:
I also have the feeling that at least in Germany there is a "light" Jazz (don't know if that is the swing jazz mentioned by BonsaiK) revival, commercials from such artists are everywhere.
Edit: Just saw the commercial again: Lisa Bassenge is getting huge marketing attention in Germany, also you could see a lot of advertisment from Melody Gardot a while back and similar artists.
Er, if you want to go to iTunes, then you... go to iTunes (or wherever). Go to their website, follow the links provided for artists. The website will walk you through it. Some people I knew deal with an "agent" who handles all that stuff but to be honest it's no hard. If you're computer-savvy enough to use an Internet forum then iTunes won't provide a challenge.Ham_authority95 said:
Well, you don't need to do anything, you can do whatever you want. However, smaller labels will often pay a lot of attention to making things that sound the same also look a bit aesthetically similar and it's basically a marketing strategy as well as a way to "unify the collection" and let consumers know that their label is a brand they can trust for delivering certain types of material. If you as a consumer listen to Band A on Label X and then you notice Band B's CD filed next to it and it looks kind of similar, then you might be tempted to pick that up too or at least give it a listen to see if it's anything like that Band A you already like.Ham_authority95 said:
Find bands anywhere you want, but when I was running a label my myself I only signed people I knew personally, however if I didn't know them that well personally I'd get to know them first, and then put their album out. It all comes down to what the purpose of your label is, which I discussed in the original reply.
If you're relying solely on the radio for your music taste, especially if it's commercial radio, you're getting a pretty narrow spectrum of stuff so it doesn't surprise me that you were unaware of all this. The radio stations with the most adventurous playlists are generally community stations, and even then, there's good and bad. I'd say that the Internet is a far more effective way for people to find new music and that's what a lot of people are doing, hence why many artists can be extremely successful yet still fly completely under the radar of a lot of people.kibbitz2000 said:
I have a pretty basic question for you, what exactly are you looking for when you're mixing?
I know you're setting the sound levels, but are you trying to get all of the tracks to peak at 0db and then the master track to peak at 0db while the volume slider is on 0db also or what?
I know you're setting the sound levels, but are you trying to get all of the tracks to peak at 0db and then the master track to peak at 0db while the volume slider is on 0db also or what?
When you're signed to a label, that label has incredible power to fuck up your career if they want to, depending on what you signed. Consider this situation: a band who is very hot in the marketplace and has just had a hit album decide to quickly record a follow-up album. It gets recorded, produced, mixed, mastered etc, and then sent off to the label. The label say "thanks very much", take the album, and... do nothing for a while. Months go by, then a whole year. The band start getting pissed off. They just want their album to come out. Eventually they say "fuck it" and decide to put it out themselves... but oh wait, they can't: most label contracts are "exclusive" meaning that the band who is signed to label A can't suddenly go off and record with label B, that'd be considered a breach of their contractual obligation to make albums exclusively for label A. So the band just has to wait for Label A to release the album when they feel like it, which could be in 2 years, or maybe never. Artists who sign too many record deals can actually get themselves in a situation where they can't legally record for anybody at all!Ham_authority95 said:
That's one example of several, but basically, if a label doesn't feel like dealing with you for whatever reason all they have to do to sink your career is not return your phone calls or emails.
I'm assuming you're talking about studio mixing here, not live mixing.Obsideo said:
Well, you probably don't want every instrument at 0dB. A mix where everything is absolutely equal tends to sound cluttered. In almost all recordings there are foreground instruments and also some stuff in the background which gives the mix a bit of depth. For any kind of popular music the overall main mix should be 0dB at its loudest point, because you don't want that song sounding quieter than others when they get played alongside each other on the radio.
However mixing is much more than setting volume levels. There's also setting sounds within the stereo field, setting EQ, adding effects and ambience, compression, and so forth. Each one of those subjects is probably worthy of a book...
Two questions for you.
Firstly, What is, in your opinion, the most realistic (fictional) representation of the music industry?
Conversely, what is the most common misconception about the industry?
Sorry, if you've answered either of these questions before, this thread is rather big and while I come back every month or so to look at questions and answers, I don't remember everything you've said.
Firstly, What is, in your opinion, the most realistic (fictional) representation of the music industry?
Conversely, what is the most common misconception about the industry?
Sorry, if you've answered either of these questions before, this thread is rather big and while I come back every month or so to look at questions and answers, I don't remember everything you've said.
1. Very hard to find, but if you can, track down an Australian film called "Bigger Than Tina". It's a Spinal Tap style fake documentary, about a struggling musician. Most people who watch it don't really like it much, it probably looks a bit hammy to people not in the industry, and that's probably why it flopped pretty badly when it came out. However it's absolutely played straight - anyone who I show it to who is in the industry is blown away by it because the portrayal of the typical delusions of the average "trying to make it" muso and how they play out in the real world, the decisions they make etc, is spookily accurate. I've met so many people exactly like the main character, and they really do behave just like that.Squarez said:
2. The idea that once you've got your first major label deal, hit single and your first music video, that you're rich. The cars, bling and girls in those videos are rented, not owned, once the shoot is over it all goes back to the hire company. Most artists see nothing in the first 12 to 18 months, and after that, depending on their contract they may still see nothing...
Oh, and further to that, if I were to pick the most common misconception plaguing this forum, I'd say it would be the idea that all it takes to be a hit is some marketing and a bit of Auto-tune, and that anybody can be created into a star with just those things and the song itself doesn't matter. If that were true I'd be famous right now.
I've got a question. I've been noticing that bands who have a really strong-selling first album don't usually come out with a second album anywhere near as popular. Bands like Boston and the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus come to mind. Would you have any thoughts as to why that is?
Hey I was wondering if you knew where I could find some tutorials/books/guidelines on any of these subjects:
- Logic Studio
-Electro House Music
-Mixing/Mastering
-Creating any type of synth
If you know any, it would be awesome if you showed me some, thanks again sir.
- Logic Studio
-Electro House Music
-Mixing/Mastering
-Creating any type of synth
If you know any, it would be awesome if you showed me some, thanks again sir.
Album sales tend to lag one album behind public perception of the band. For instance, if album #4 sucks, the public who rushed out and bought it without even listening to it will feel "once bitten, twice shy" and thus they won't buy album #5. So if album #2 stiffs that usually means that album #1 wasn't that great. So why did people buy album #1? Probably because they liked one or two songs off it, but once they got the whole album they realised that they didn't like the rest of the stuff.Berethond said:
It's actually most common of all for an artist's third album to be the one that duds commecially. There's a good reason for that. An artist's debut, that artist had their entire lives up until that point to write the songs for that debut album, because prior to that they had no contract. Once the debut is hot property and selling, then the group or artist goes on tour, and after that there's tremendous pressure to come up with a follow-up album which is as good or better, but this time within a limited timeframe (that didn't exist previously). Some artists cope well with this kind of pressure but many don't, and therefore album #2 often isn't that great. The public who loved album #1 buy it anyway, learn their lesson from the mediocre second album, and then they don't buy album #3 as keenly when it comes out. Hence the phrase "difficult third album" that you sometimes read in the music press.
Logic studio - Type "logic studio tutorial" into Google. Seriously. I don't use Logic Studio (Logic Pro is just a baby Protools, so it's redundant if you use ProTools, and the rest of the stuff it can do I'd rather get done with actual instruments) so I wouldn't know how to advise you, but the amount of free tutorials, videos, blogs etc etc by people showing you what to do with this program suite to get the most out of it is staggering.Obsideo said:
Electro house music - If you are of the mindset that you need guidelines for this sort of music, you're doing it wrong. Experimentation is generally how you get the best results in electronic music anyway.
Mixing and mastering - this is a very lengthy subject which you really need a whole book to cover off properly. Sadly I've never come across one that I'd recommend. Reading the technical manual for an actual mixing board might help, but it won't cover everything. Some of the other stuff earlier in this thread might help too, a bit. You could do a course in it. It won't exactly make you any more employable but it will give you some of the knowledge, and you might even get hands-on with Logic Studio while you're at it, killing two birds with one stone. Honestly the best way to learn is by doing, you mix with your ears first and foremost. Get yourself a cheap setup and just try to mix things, over and over again.
Creating a synth - god knows. If I need a synth, I buy one. I don't have time to mess around with things like that - if only!
Hey BonsaiK, I just stumbled across this blog and I'd like to say thank you for this thread. It's quite rare to find people so open and willing to talk about the biz. So for that thanks so much!
I'm from the States and am in a phycedelic/prog/rock group that's been together for about 8+ years now. We've been doing quite well on our own and have released 3 full length albums. We've been putting in a lot of that leg work that every artist has to do, promo, press, design, financial, booking/touring, creating and building the buzz, and of course writing, etc. And from all that have been building quite a following world-wide.
Things are still growing but we feel that we're butting that ceiling a bit. Because of our independence, we don't have the resources to get us on tour packages nationally and internationally and to expand our exposure to that "next level", or to get consistent guarantees to cover travel costs. We'd prefer to stay as independent as possible to retain control over the art and music but we're still open to building our team like management, agencies or even a good indie label. But how is it that we start a dialogue with these people? What do they want to see? Just a standard press package? How should I follow up with these people after I've first contacted them? We've submitted stuff to people in the past but have had little luck getting much of a response from them. Your thoughts would be awesome
I'm from the States and am in a phycedelic/prog/rock group that's been together for about 8+ years now. We've been doing quite well on our own and have released 3 full length albums. We've been putting in a lot of that leg work that every artist has to do, promo, press, design, financial, booking/touring, creating and building the buzz, and of course writing, etc. And from all that have been building quite a following world-wide.
Things are still growing but we feel that we're butting that ceiling a bit. Because of our independence, we don't have the resources to get us on tour packages nationally and internationally and to expand our exposure to that "next level", or to get consistent guarantees to cover travel costs. We'd prefer to stay as independent as possible to retain control over the art and music but we're still open to building our team like management, agencies or even a good indie label. But how is it that we start a dialogue with these people? What do they want to see? Just a standard press package? How should I follow up with these people after I've first contacted them? We've submitted stuff to people in the past but have had little luck getting much of a response from them. Your thoughts would be awesome