At 12:30 PM -0700 9/11/96, Greg Earle wrote:
quoted 4 lines it must be hard for these small labels to be>>it must be hard for these small labels to be
>> endlessly doing the groundwork for somebody else to cash in on.
>
>Well, I hate to state the obvious, but "get used to it mate".
damn straight. it's been around forever. majors do it. larger indies do
it. artists *want* to do it. nobody wants their music to go unlistened-to.
most artists start their own labels with the express goal of being picked
up so they can stop doing the "groundwork" as you call it...
quoted 3 lines I suspect Jon Drukman's>I suspect Jon Drukman's
>arrangement with Mephisto might qualify (local to artist, similar artistic
>aesthetic) here, although how worldwide their distribution is is unknown.
they were distributed by hi-bias. i think that's about middling.
the truth is that i went with mephisto simply because mike johnston of
mephisto is a good friend and he credits me with having gotten him
interested in making dance music to start with, so he wanted to return the
favor. i really don't think i fit into the typical mephisto style at all,
and even mikael admitted he was "pushing the envelope" a bit to fit me in.
my personal experience is that most connections in the industry are based
on friendships, simply because it's a lot easier to feel comfortable doing
business with someone who you wouldn't mind getting high with. picture it:
you're a label. you're going to risk several thousand dollars on someone's
art. who are you more likely to think of calling? that unknown who sent
you a tape in the mail or this guy that your best friend brought in saying
"this guy is great, he's really nice, you'll love him."
i'm not the world's most successful artist but so far all the gig's i've
got have come about because i knew someone involved. nobody has ever just
picked my tape out of a bin at random and said "wow, we must sign this guy
up." everything i've sent cold to a label has met with a rejection letter
or (more usually) silence.
quoted 4 lines Whereas my attitude is to go to the labels that *have* that recognition factor>Whereas my attitude is to go to the labels that *have* that recognition factor
>if at all possible; people who might not otherwise buy the record because they
>don't know the name would buy it because of the *label* and might end up
>enjoying it. Heaven knows I've done this often enough myself ...
it's a great idea but so far i don't personally know anybody at a big
label. however, a friend of mine's roommate is down with some of the
biggies in the US, so no doubt bass kittens will explode onto the national
scene any day now...
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Jon Drukman jsd@cyborganic.com
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