A Song A Day

As I mentioned previously, destroying the record labels because they’ve been slow to adapt to the new digital landscape is something of a blinkered view to take. The record ‘industry’ as it stands right now consists of a huge system of interlinking parts that, while they may no longer work too well together – or at all – in a new world of torrents and Hypemachines and widgets, still manage to occasionally gear-crunch and propel new artists towards success. It’s tough to make it when you’ve got this - somewhat rusty - machinery behind you. Is it even tougher, though, if you haven’t?

Let me simplify. We’re at a turning point in the story of music. We all know this. The factory owners who oversee all that machinery of music production and promotion are struggling to adapt. Meanwhile, the new wave of DIYers are getting to grips with the opportunities the internet’s made available to them. The labels can learn a lot from the DIYers. But what can the DIYers learn from the labels? That machinery, rusty though it is today, has been working for over 50 years – it helped launch the careers of most, if not all, of your favourite artists. The system that, on the one hand, has made a global superstar of Leona Lewis, and, on the other, turned Foals into this year’s cult band, is a system that undoubtedly works on its own terms. So what can you learn from it?

Let’s break it down. The music industry works in many ways to create successful artists. Here are the constituent parts, chronologically listed in the order you would generally deal with them:

Booking agent
A&R
Label
Producers
Distribution
Radio pluggers
PR
Sync agencies

If you’re a DIYer and don’t want to go down the traditional route of chasing a label deal, you still need to think about all these elements and the alternative ways you can engage with what they do. (There are other players – e.g. lawyers, managers – who I won’t discuss as you may not need them right now, and if you do there are no real non-traditional ways to engage with them).

Let’s go through them one by one. I’ll admit that I have limited live music experience so will skip booking agents for now – anyone with insight is invited to leave a comment. Update: on that point, this makes for an interesting read.

A&R
So what does an A&R do? At the simplest level, they scout for new talent, bring that talent to a label and work on a deal, find a producer and studio to help create a product, and act as an extra creative ear during writing and recording to ensure that that product appeals to an audience.

As a DIY artist, a label deal is probably not your priority right now. Do you need a producer? We’ll deal with how you can self-produce your own music at a later date.

So the crucial element here is the A&R’s input during the writing and recording phase. How do you know if the music you’re making is going to appeal to anyone? (Assuming you’re not making avant-garde atonal free-jazz or the like, then finding a large audience is undoubtedly something you’re interested in!)

One solution is to utilize Slice The Pie. It’s essentially a Sellaband-style “fan financing” site, where you upload your music and users vote on your tracks with a view to buying shares in the successful ones, enabling those bands to build up enough revenue to finance the recording of an album. But disregard the money-making angle, and Slice The Pie becomes useful as an A&R tool. Each of the tracks you upload will receive around 40 reviews from music fans, and the feedback can be incredibly helpful. At the very least, it will show which tracks in your repertoire strike a chord, something which is hard to do by playing stuff to your friends, or without taking the leap and performing in front of a live audience night after night.

You could also try TheSixtyOne, a Digg-like music site that allows users to vote on (or “bump”) their favourite tracks from the wide selection of new music that artists upload to the site. It’s another great way of finding out which of your masterpieces connects with listeners (and also a great way to discover some good new music in its own right – well worth checking out even if you’re not a musician).

Popularity: 14% [?]