Digging in your own back yard: Stop Trying to Get a Record Deal and Sell Your Own Music
©2011, Sahpreem A. King, Music Business Guru
"A man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them; the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property. "Acres of Diamonds" originated as a speech, which Russell Conwell published in 1890"
As a music business consultant I have the unique opportunity of working with many artists and music business professionals at different levels of their careers. The most common mistake that I see being constantly made is that they are looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Everyone wants success, but not everyone is willing to work their butts off, make personal and professional sacrifices, or think outside of the box in order to achieve their goals. For the most part, people are looking for a short cut or secret to success, but after spending over 20 years in the music industry I can assure you that there is no secret. Nothing can take the place of hard work, determination, and focus. Merely having talent alone, does not automatically result in becoming successful. I have found that many aspiring artists and music business professionals are too focused on the outcome and not the proper steps to achieve their goals. In this new paradigm of the music business, being an independent is the most optimal position to be in. As an independent you are free of the major label tyranny, financial slavery, and out and out ignorance. You have the ability to make your own marketing decisions and directly reach out to you audience with a level of intimacy that major labels, distributors, promoters, and retailers could never achieve.
This same advice applies to aspiring music producers. Instead of trying to shop (sell) your beats to known artists and labels, create an e-commerce website and sell the beats yourself. Even better, start a digital label, sign a few artists, create a revenue sharing business model and sell music directly to your demographic. In cyberspace there is such a wide array of social networking tools, music promotion and distribution channels, and marketing models, that it's hard to resist the temptation of going independent. As a matter of fact, all of the resources required to becoming an independent are only a few mouse clicks away.
It is time that musicians, producers, music business professionals, and artists begin to pry their mouths away from the tainted teat of the major label cow. Sorry to snatch you up outta the Matrix, but the milk turned sour a long time ago. Stop hanging on to this antiquated pipe dream. Everything you need to become successful is right at your finger tips. Quit looking elsewhere for opportunity; you have all the abilities and resources to become what you want to become. You do not have to move to a bigger city, borrow money from the mob, or sell a million records to become successful. If you organically grow your facebook friends to 5000 and 25% of them become customers and buys your album at $10, you just made $12,500.00. Assuming it cost you $3,500.00 (not common, but not unrealistic) to record and mix your album, you have earned a profit of $9000.00. That's right you earned almost 10 grand in your spare time and any sales made beyond the 1250 you just sold is pure profit. So why do you need a record label again? I hear a lot of excuses but never any solutions. If someone from your area has succeeded in the same industry that you would like to succeed in then seek them out and as for their advice, if not make a way out of no way. At any moment, you are three handshakes and four phone calls away from success. Everything you need is right in your own backyard.
Master P, Too Short, MC Hammer, Ludacris, Russell Simmons & Rick Rubin, J. Prince, Tony Draper (Suave House), Luther Campbell, E40, Birdman, Roc-A-Fella Records, and the list goes on of artists and labels that sold millions records independently. The common denominator of all the aforementioned is that they did not look elsewhere to achieve fame, fortune, or success; they worked with what they had and in their own communities.
If they can do it, then so can you…
"A man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them; the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property. "Acres of Diamonds" originated as a speech, which Russell Conwell published in 1890"
As a music business consultant I have the unique opportunity of working with many artists and music business professionals at different levels of their careers. The most common mistake that I see being constantly made is that they are looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Everyone wants success, but not everyone is willing to work their butts off, make personal and professional sacrifices, or think outside of the box in order to achieve their goals. For the most part, people are looking for a short cut or secret to success, but after spending over 20 years in the music industry I can assure you that there is no secret. Nothing can take the place of hard work, determination, and focus. Merely having talent alone, does not automatically result in becoming successful. I have found that many aspiring artists and music business professionals are too focused on the outcome and not the proper steps to achieve their goals. In this new paradigm of the music business, being an independent is the most optimal position to be in. As an independent you are free of the major label tyranny, financial slavery, and out and out ignorance. You have the ability to make your own marketing decisions and directly reach out to you audience with a level of intimacy that major labels, distributors, promoters, and retailers could never achieve.
This same advice applies to aspiring music producers. Instead of trying to shop (sell) your beats to known artists and labels, create an e-commerce website and sell the beats yourself. Even better, start a digital label, sign a few artists, create a revenue sharing business model and sell music directly to your demographic. In cyberspace there is such a wide array of social networking tools, music promotion and distribution channels, and marketing models, that it's hard to resist the temptation of going independent. As a matter of fact, all of the resources required to becoming an independent are only a few mouse clicks away.
It is time that musicians, producers, music business professionals, and artists begin to pry their mouths away from the tainted teat of the major label cow. Sorry to snatch you up outta the Matrix, but the milk turned sour a long time ago. Stop hanging on to this antiquated pipe dream. Everything you need to become successful is right at your finger tips. Quit looking elsewhere for opportunity; you have all the abilities and resources to become what you want to become. You do not have to move to a bigger city, borrow money from the mob, or sell a million records to become successful. If you organically grow your facebook friends to 5000 and 25% of them become customers and buys your album at $10, you just made $12,500.00. Assuming it cost you $3,500.00 (not common, but not unrealistic) to record and mix your album, you have earned a profit of $9000.00. That's right you earned almost 10 grand in your spare time and any sales made beyond the 1250 you just sold is pure profit. So why do you need a record label again? I hear a lot of excuses but never any solutions. If someone from your area has succeeded in the same industry that you would like to succeed in then seek them out and as for their advice, if not make a way out of no way. At any moment, you are three handshakes and four phone calls away from success. Everything you need is right in your own backyard.
Master P, Too Short, MC Hammer, Ludacris, Russell Simmons & Rick Rubin, J. Prince, Tony Draper (Suave House), Luther Campbell, E40, Birdman, Roc-A-Fella Records, and the list goes on of artists and labels that sold millions records independently. The common denominator of all the aforementioned is that they did not look elsewhere to achieve fame, fortune, or success; they worked with what they had and in their own communities.
If they can do it, then so can you…
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