There was shock, bordering on disgust, in the indie music community in reaction to the results of the recent ReverbNation/Digital Music News survey that found that 75% of artists still want to get signed to a record label. I was actually not shocked at all by the survey results. Yes, there are a certain % of musicians who still want to be a rock star or pop star, and they think that “getting signed” will help them to realize that dream. But most musicians I deal with on a day-to-day basis want to sign to a label for 3 reasons:
1) A team
This is huge. They simply want a team of people that will help them with the day-to-day running of their career. And yes, they are willing to give up a little bit of freedom and some money to have access to that kind of team.
2) Contacts
Most established labels have solid contacts with radio, media, bookers, festivals, conferences, etc. By signing with certain labels, artists instantly have access to those gatekeepers, which can help bring their career to another level.
3) Money
This is the obvious one, but again, most artists I know don’t see signing with a label as a blank check and don’t expect to receive millions of dollars. What they do want from a label is some kind of investment so that they don’t have to keep paying for everything out of their own pocket. Even just $10-20,000 can make a huge difference in a DIY artist’s career. And if an artist strikes the right deal with a label that is more about partnership rather than an ownership, then it might be the right move for their career. I’ve personally helped/encouraged DIY artists to find these kinds of deals, which might be surprising as I’ve developed somewhat of a reputation for being “Mr. Indie”.
=> Are we blindly promoting the virtues of ‘indie’?
Just as the idea of being signed to a label might sound sexier than what the reality is, is it possible that the idea of being “indie/DIY” sounds much sexier than the reality on the ground? I think for all of us working in this domain, we need to be very careful about blindly promoting the virtues of being indie, and even more careful when condemning artists who do want to sign to a label. Can an artist make more money by being “indie” than by being signed to a label? In theory, yes. But are indie/DIY artists actually making more money than their counterparts on labels? I’m not sure if anyone really knows. But I think we all need to do a much better job at providing concrete examples with hard (verifiable) data from DIY artists who are making a living from their music. Otherwise what are we selling to artists? Are we merely promoting the indie/DIY ethos so that we can sell more memberships/consultations/services/books? And this is just as much a question for me as it is for anyone else. After releasing a film about the experience of being an indie artist, and writing a book of marketing advice for indie musicians, I’m very much a part of this industry that caters to indie artists.
One person that is doing some great work in finding artist success stories is Ariel Hyatt through her ongoing series of articles “In Defense of 1,000 True Fans”. But Ariel is just one person out of many that could be sharing these kinds of stories. The fact is that there are companies out there with memberships in the tens of thousands that could be doing research to find out just what the reality on the ground is for indie artists.
On my end, I’m struggling to find more than a handful of success stories for a new film I’m working on; it’s frustrating, and a little disheartening. Some artists I’ve spoken to simply don’t have verifiable data to back up their claims, or once you dig deeper you find out that they make most of their income from a side job or teaching. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what we’re all talking about when we promote being indie/DIY and the idea of the “middle-class musician”, which is making a full-time living from your music. In other cases I’ve found that the artists have just started to recently make a living from their music, and usually a very modest living, not anywhere near a truly “middle-class” income. And in a few cases, after only 6 months, I hear back that the artists have been forced to find a part-time or full-time job because they simply could not sustain the full-time income from their music career.
=> Amanda Palmer and Matthew Ebel
There are two DIY success stories that keep popping up over and over again, which are Amanda Palmer and Matthew Ebel. Like many people, I admire what they are doing. Matthew Ebel is a brilliant and charismatic artist who makes the majority of his income from subscriptions to his website. It’s a truly amazing story, but are there many other Matthew Ebel’s out there?
Amanda Palmer has made huge waves with some of her incredibly creative fan-funding initiatives which have netted her tens of thousands of dollars. But how much of her fan base was created from her days with the Dresden Dolls, who were signed to Roadrunner Records for several years? How much money did Roadrunner invest in marketing the Dresden Dolls? Again, no one can really say for sure, however, it needs to be part of the discussion.
What’s clear is that even in her days with the Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer seemed to be very accessible to her fans and communicated with them directly, which has no doubt contributed to her success today, where fan interaction and engagement is key for any artist; label or no label. So I am by no means trying to take away her ‘indie’ cred. What she’s doing is indeed a model for all artists out there, but my question is about the relative scale of her success and whether it would have been the same with no history on a label.
=> And what about Radiohead and NIN?
On a much larger scale, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are often touted as “indie” success stories. What they did was innovative and amazing, providing a giant f&%* you to the major labels that made us all smile. But they had millions of dollars of marketing support from those very same major labels for many, many years. Can an artist who has never been signed to a label in the past duplicate those kinds of results? The model might be there in theory, but are sustainable long-term careers being created on the DIY level yet? We can’t on the one hand state that we’re living in a “post-label” world and then give examples of artists successfully using DIY tactics who benefited greatly from that very same label system.
=> OK, but what about the Internet? And social media? And the amazing tools for artists?!
Yes, we are living in a truly exciting time in the music industry, and there are more opportunities for artists than ever before, there’s no denying that. The technology, distribution systems, promotional tools, direct access to fans, it’s all there. The models for success are clearly present, and in theory it should be resulting in thousands upon thousands of indie artists making a full-time living from their music. But are the results on the ground there yet? I, like many out there, would love to know with concrete examples. Not 1, not 2, but dozens, HUNDREDS of examples.
I guess my frustration has boiled over because it seems like almost every week a new product or service comes out aimed at indie artists claiming to be the key to a successful career. Or another author releases a book claiming to know the “secrets to success” for indie artists. Or another industry expert demonizes artists who want to sign to a label. Is it really that much more risky to be signed than to be DIY? Maybe the discussion should be more about how the music industry in general is a tough place to succeed, with or without label support. It seems to me that there are success stories and horror stories on both sides of the label divide, and maybe, just maybe, this debate has more shades of gray than we all like to let on.
Don’t get me wrong, most people working in this industry who are trying to help indie artists are genuinely trying to do just that: help the artists. This blog post is not meant to be negative, nor is it meant to criticize any one person or any company in particular. It’s meant to be a call to action for all of us who work in this ‘indie’ music world: the companies, the service-providers, the authors, the so-called experts in this field need to do a better job of moving from the theoretical world to providing more tangible examples of artist success stories. And yes, success is relative, but what I’m really talking about are artists generating a full-time living income from their music careers that resembles the “artistic middle-class” that many believe exists.
Panos Panay of Sonicbids, who strongly believes in the existence of this artistic middle-class, recently stated that he would be willing to work with other companies to commission a comprehensive survey of their respective memberships to find out just what the reality is on the ground. I really hope this kind of survey happens, as companies like Sonicbids have the membership base to be able to get a much clearer picture of what’s really happening out there. I’ve reached out to Panos to let him know that I’m willing to donate my time to help with that initiative if it materializes.
How much income are DIY artists making from their music? How many are actually making a full-time living from their music career? And maybe just as importantly, how long have they been making a full-time living from their music? After all, it’s not about making a living for a few months or a year, it’s about sustainable, long-term careers.
These are all questions I think we need better answers to on a much larger scale before anyone can claim that the indie music revolution, or the era of the middle-class musician, has truly arrived. And my hope is that in the comments to this blog, in further discussions, and in the results of future surveys, the answers will become clearer.
Cheers,
Dave
(Another so-called indie music ‘expert’)
As part owner of a recording studio in BC, I have to say I find this discussion relevant to how I run my business. With the tapering off of Major Label involvement in the direction of the careers of artists, my experience lately is, most artists who come through my doors have either the expectation that their recording will lead to some sort of label investment, or that they will be able to muster their own fan-base to buy their recording independently, and at least break even.
This almost always ends up in disappointment I’m afraid. It’s brutal to watch what happens in the last few days when a recording is coming to a close, and that grey cloud comes over the person paying you to do it and I KNOW what they’re thinking – SHIT. What am I going to do with this when it’s done??!?
I think what is required is a shift in thinking from the artists themselves. The industries around artists are constantly trying to sell a magic bullet to them, that tout results, but the truth of the matter is no one method will do it alone. As you said, most musicians have day jobs – it’s a fact of our lot these days, I myself was a touring musician for almost 15 years, and I eventually had to find my own niche to pay the bills… this makes it difficult to cast your net wide, like a major, but to be successful, you need to cast as wide of a net as possible, and that means promoting and selling yourself by any means at your disposal.
Artists need to think about what they’re going to do well in advance – I’m talking at least six months before hitting a studio. There are so many variables to success that need to be in place before paying out to press a disc. In the end, and we all like to think that we’re special and unique (and we are), but what should come first and foremost to the mind of any musician, signed or not, is that YOU ARE IN BUSINESS. I realize this is engrained in the nature of this blog, but 9 out of 10 artists that walk through my door are not thinking this way.
Simple rules that applied to labels in their hay-day still apply to indie artists:
1. Think well in advance about how you’re going to sell your product when it’s made, and make it as cost effective as possible. Conceptualize your record and I don’t mean specifically artistically. Do you need to press a disc? If you’re sending to radio and PR firms, then probably, at least a short run, so put that in your budget… see below, one example.
Or how about this one, to quote a famous rock band: WHO ARE YOU? What is your sound, look, style? Yeah, yeah, I know that purists will moan at this one, but even Arcade Fire spent a lot of time thinking about how they present themselves to people, their sound, their look. People need to connect with you and you need to know yourself how to best be able to do that. If you’re lying to yourself, you’re lying to your fans and they won’t buy anything from you.
2. Don’t blow all your money on recording. I’m loathe to say this as a studio owner, and going to a decent studio and getting the best result you can is paramount (it IS what you’re selling after all), but most people don’t consider the other costs of moving records. This happens a lot, which means you will move nothing. As a side note – PREPARE for your recording. Practice, practice, practice. Make simple recordings in your living room and rework your songs and lyrics over time. You’ll get awesome results and save money if you go into a studio prepared. Don’t think you’re going to be writing in studio – it’ll only cost you money. Don’t expect that the studio will do you any favours – would you if you had a mortgage and bills? No. Don’t expect anyone else working for you to do the same. So on that lovely note, you need to come up with a budget for every album you make, and aside from paying a studio, it includes:
3. Get a half decent photographer and/or a graphic designer (album art, promo materials). PLEASE. It is astonishing to me the low level of consideration this is given. Humans are sensory creatures, so as well as auditory senses, our number one sense is our eyes and people often make a connection to music visually. This goes back to the top – who are you? This ties in to every aspect of your musical career.
4. Make product to sell. Duh. CD’s are going the way of the dodo, but there are lots of options out there that will make you memorable that are physical. Don’t expect that people will remember you the first time you meet or see/hear your material. You probably don’t have a radio campaign beyond college radio, playing your stuff repeatedly getting into peoples heads, so you need to keep hitting your core fan-base.
5. Go out and play shows. Lots of them. Everywhere you can. Put on your own if possible. You need a travel budget, even if it’s only in town. Gas, equipment rentals, whatever, it’s an expense, you need to anticipate these. All the social networks in the world will not be able to provide you the level of connection that a good live show can give. If you don’t like interacting with people, then honestly, consider doing something else. This is what we’re in this for, and we all connect through a love of music. Make sure that at every show you have product to sell, anything. Drop cards, CDs, whatever. Again, keep on that core group, and keep them interested constantly and GET THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES.
If you’ve decided to offer music for free, don’t think it’s free – make it a stipulation that they have to provide email an email address if they want your tunes. At least get that. This is worth money in the bank people, you wouldn’t give your email to just anyone, and they are trusting that you will provide them with more if you can get it out of them. If they like you they will buy something eventually. Get as many email addresses at shows as possible and keep the list sacred!
6. Seriously give consideration to hiring a PR company for every album release. Even a small one – this really should be in everyones budget – it’s a few thousand bucks, but a decent firm is worth it’s weight in gold. You mentioned the connections that labels have, they have their own pr firms in house, but PR is the one area that has worked fairly well in the indie market so far. If you’re really serious, you’ll give this one good thought about putting your money down for it. If you’re playing lots of shows, anyone will take you on for a fee, work it into the budget, save for it, do it. You need to get them information about your release AT LEAST two months prior to it coming out – most won’t even consider working with you without you having thought about this, which is why you need a list. Plus they can help you with….
7. Staying on point, staying on message. I’m going to use an evil word here, and even I flinch at it, but BRAND. When you are in business it’s important that you sell your brand. You are a band with a brand, your band that is a business. Accept it, embrace it, and then you can be free to be creative with it. You don’t have to go around saying it to everyone, but recognizing this is key – look in the cosmetics section at Shoppers Drug Mart, shampoo aisle. A company that sells three different kinds of shampoo may change the shape of their bottle or make the colours a little different but the logo and message is always the same. It needs to be recognizable and so does every release you make.
Every album has it’s own characteristics, but your sound, look and image must be tied in to that, and for every release that you promote, make sure that you promote with that style and look. Don’t use that old band photo from five years ago, use the new one that you paid a photographer for. The only thing the web is good for, no matter what social network or site you use as an artist, is delivering the message – if it’s convoluted, it doesn’t matter what service you’re using or how many, it will get lost.
Oh, and ten thousand fans means nothing. It’s easy on social networks to waste time and get people to ‘like’ you. But that’s a virtual like, not a real like. If you can get a core 200 to 500 people to REALLY like you on a social network, people who actually say – come to a show, buy your stuff, give you their email, and feel they are actively participating in your career (you are sharing your music after all), that’s way more valuable than the 10,000 you solicited to like you who wouldn’t be able to pick you out of a line up, or didn’t even give you a listen thirty seconds after they ‘liked’ you.
8. Always think about the next project. Collaborate, communicate, seek out, don’t expect or assume people to just magically find you. You can save on money by working with other people with the same ideas – management companies put the bands they handle on tour together as often as possible because it saves them money on promotional and travel costs. The grunge scene was successful in large part because the bands from Seattle and the surrounding areas toured extensively and collaborated constantly TOGETHER, before many of them were signed to majors.
9. Not all businesses succeed, in fact, most fail. It sucks, it’s painful, but sometimes you have to cut your losses and let go. It doesn’t mean you won’t go back in to business again. You do your best, and accept the rewards of being your own boss, even if you’re a boss in the music business.
These may seem obvious to a lot of the readers of this blog, but again, as a studio owner, I find it astounding that at least 5 or 6 of these 9 simple points are completely relegated to the dumpster of consideration for most of the bands and artists that come through my door. And they fail. They fail because they’ll spend all their money on a slice of pie at the Coffee Shop, instead of getting the ingredients for an entire pie and baking it themselves. Don’t look at the slice, look at the future pie you’re going to bake.
Indie or major, it doesn’t matter – in my experience, the bands that make it time and again (at least, make a living off of music without a subsidizing day job), are the ones that stick to, and have the ability to utilize creatively, most if not all of these points. We do what we can with the resources that are given to us. Brian May built his own guitar – maybe he couldn’t afford one when he got started, but he used what he had, and I understand that, not everyone has the means and you’re allowed to get creative, and use what you have in the best way possible.
It’s the Business of Music and as musicians we need to start taking ownership, and in this day and age, we have the opportunity to do so. Everyone in music will benefit – artists, studio owners, PR companies, management – if more artists start thinking along these lines.
Very good article. Thank you Dave.
Indeed. Major Labels are appealing, ya know, it’s a franchise.. They just have to plug in to a system… Not to take anything away from their talent and creativity, but less effort to get to the usually less than really thought out dream, is appealing.
Ya, i think it all comes down to talent(purposefully developed talent into a strength), hunger, knowledge, business savvy, and strategy.
Thats a unique combination. That takes discipline plus talent, plus a special kind of mind. I don’t think there is that much luck involved other than genes and support, and THOSE ARE HUGE factors, but those that are supposed to, i think, will make it.
I don’t know, this is a VERY interesting topic for me, and is actually the heart of my next big project.
Basically i’m doing what i hope to be a little more than just “surface level” exploration, research, and interviews, on the successful indie artists and bands that are thriving today. I’ll be attempting to uncover the correlations and key strategies that are common and prevalent, as well as highlight the business models that are working, and trying to get to the core of what actually is THE THING that is making some people succesful today and why…
I imagine it is a few things that are probably pretty close, but i won’t actually know until i actually sit down with them and pick their brains and then draw the correlations ya know.
Anyway, i think that a lot of people would really benefit from this research and i look forward to sharing it with my audience, and if you’re interested i suppose i could pass the findings along to you to share!
If you have know of any case studies i should add to the list or want to talk im more than glad to discuss and collaborate and bounce ideas off….
I think this is just something that someone needs to go and do and then share. I have been compiling all the names of succesful indie bands and stories from people like ariel hyatt, bob baker, derek sivers, etc. etc. and if you have any pieces of info or names to contribute please let me know.
me @ jamieleger dot com.