The Music Industry for Dummies
By T. Perry Bowers
When I was twenty years old I had no idea how the music business worked. I was such a dummy! Actually it was a bit different in those days. Back then a band could go to a club, play a show (with very few people in attendance) and get signed to a major label record contract. OK, that scenario didn’t happen very often, but it did happen. Nowadays, that’s a virtual impossibility.
6961In the nineties, a band could make a four-song demo on a cassette tape, send it to a record label and get a record contract. If the A&R (artist and repertoire) person at the label heard something special in the demo, the band might have a contract in their mailbox the very next day. Again, not a common scenario, but yes, that did happen too.
However even back then, the majority of record contracts happened just like they happen now. They develop slowly over a long period of time. The band starts out in somebody’s basement and soon they begin to play shows. Over a period of years, they develop a local following. The band works extremely hard promoting themselves. Back in the nineties, it was common for a band to put up a thousand posters for every show they did. Every coffee shop, record store and streetlight had a poster on it. (Now, the Internet has taken the place of streetlights and bands use social media instead of coffee shops). Soon, the band starts to do small tours outside their local region. They make a CD or cassette to sell at their shows. Finally, at some point, their following gets so big that the record labels can’t ignore them any longer and a record contract lands in their lap.
So that’s how it works. There is no magic pill to being successful as an artist and it doesn’t happen overnight – at least not very often. It wasn’t any easier twenty years ago than it is now. Most bands and artists put time in, on the road, working extremely hard to get their name out there. They rehearse day and night. For some bands, hard work turns into a record deal and they make a lot of money. For even more bands, the record deal leaves them penniless in the long run. I could tell you more than a few stories of bands who had decent local and regional followings and once the record deals were signed, the bands self-imploded.
The reason I’m telling you this is because I still get calls everyday from industries “dummies” – people who want to sing to me. They ask me to listen to their music and help them “get a record deal” or maybe just get their mix tape into “the right people’s” hands. I don’t entertain these calls anymore because I look like an asshole either way. If I say they have talent and they should make a recording, they think I’m just trying to swindle them out of their money. If I tell them they suck, they feel like shit and I won’t ever gain them as a client.
Recording studios are not record labels! It doesn’t matter if the studio owner or the engineer likes your material. The only thing that matters is you think it’s good and it inspires you. To be successful you need a work ethic that is out of this world. Nobody, especially in this day and age, can “make you a star”. Unfortunately shows like American Idol perpetuate this myth. They make artists believe that they just need to nail one audition and the rest is history. The fact is the ones who actually made a career out of their appearances on these shows are those who have a solid business plan for after their appearances – those who took it upon themselves to start touring or make a record to sell. They created a big online presence that parlayed their TV show life into real life success.
You are the only one who truly cares about you (well, except maybe your mom). So work hard and turn your belief into a real business. The beauty of it is once you do have a following, the record contract is just paper. It’s a means to an end. You’ve already got a business that works. Your record label, booking agency or management team are just partners to your success. They help you do what you can already do yourself, only better. So get out there, work hard and create heavy leverage for yourself. Then when it comes time to gather your professional team, you’ll be in the driver seat.
