Being a musician without record company?

[PPeeks]

there are
1. online distribution company, like CDBaby or Tunecore,
2. music retail store, like iTunes
3. SNS, like MySpace

Potentially, managing a band without those record label is possible.
What do you think?
Or, is there any musician who actually is successful without record company?

[Paedantic Basterd]

It's possible, certainly, but you'd better be good and work hard.

[ThePhanastasio]

There are several musicians I can think of right off the top of my head who still make money without an actual record label, and are able to actually distribute their own music.

Ingrid Michaelson is actually fairly well-known, but she didn't have a record label for at least her first album, Girls and Boys. I'm not even sure if she actually has one now, to be honest. Probably, but you know. Even with that, when she was NOT signed and her mother was her manager, she was able to gig quite regularly, and had her songs picked up by numerous television shows, probably most notably Grey's Anatomy, as that's where many first heard her music.

Julia Nunes is a singer-songwriter who plays ukulele, gigs all over the United States and Europe, sells self-distributed albums and merchandise, and still manages to do pretty well for herself. She's actually played Bonnaroo the past two years, last year on a bigger stage than the first. She's been hand-selected to open for Ben Folds and Ben Kweller, so I'll have to say she's doing all right as an unsigned artist.

So yes - it's quite possible.

[PPeeks]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

It's possible, certainly, but you'd better be good and work hard.

yeah, thanks.

Actually, i kinda like doing those business thing by myself (at least i built my own website). But if i do the business stuff, i have to sacrifice some of the time which could be used for music creation.

But, hiring some people, or making a deal with those other group of people, requires time and skill. And if you arent cautious about it, they just take advantage of the musician.

Well, i just started to post my music on the internet this week, and nobody knows me, so this kinda worry looks silly and embarrassing. But, sooner or later i have to think about that, so...

(By the way, if you have time, will you please give me some opinions about my website? ppeeks.com)

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Kunaki + Open House

Go to as many open houses as you can, and write an album while you're doing it. When you're album is ready, cover your songs, and sell them alongside the open house performances. Use Kunaki for printing because it's cheap as ****, unrestrictive, and professional.

Don't bother with the Internet unless you have connections, and can get reviewed on major blogs. Even then, it's better just to build a small local following, and see if you can build from that.

This is speaking from someone who spent the 30 bucks to get an album setup with CD baby, and basically I'm sitting on it because I haven't a clue how to advertise it in a way that will convince people to want to fork over the money(...and I'm charging a meager $6.66)

[PPeeks]

Originally Posted by ThePhanastasio

Ingrid Michaelson is actually fairly well-known, but she didn't have a record label for at least her first album, Girls and Boys. I'm not even sure if she actually has one now, to be honest. Probably, but you know. Even with that, when she was NOT signed and her mother was her manager, she was able to gig quite regularly, and had her songs picked up by numerous television shows, probably most notably Grey's Anatomy, as that's where many first heard her music.

Julia Nunes is a singer-songwriter who plays ukulele, gigs all over the United States and Europe, sells self-distributed albums and merchandise, and still manages to do pretty well for herself. She's actually played Bonnaroo the past two years, last year on a bigger stage than the first. She's been hand-selected to open for Ben Folds and Ben Kweller, so I'll have to say she's doing all right as an unsigned artist.

So yes - it's quite possible.

Thanks! These information is really helpful.

Looks like both artists currently have a deal with indie label (or not indie?). Maybe there are lots of musicians who gets famous by the internet, but less people remain "unsigned".

And, wiki said Ingrid Michaelson actually had a manager, her mom. That would be a good way to start a career. (i only got Japanese friends cos im a Japanese, they can be a manager but it would be very difficult. Maybe i have to get out of this country now.)

[PPeeks]

Originally Posted by Skaligojurah

Kunaki + Open House

Go to as many open houses as you can, and write an album while you're doing it. When you're album is ready, cover your songs, and sell them alongside the open house performances. Use Kunaki for printing because it's cheap as ****, unrestrictive, and professional.

Don't bother with the Internet unless you have connections, and can get reviewed on major blogs. Even then, it's better just to build a small local following, and see if you can build from that.

This is speaking from someone who spent the 30 bucks to get an album setup with CD baby, and basically I'm sitting on it because I haven't a clue how to advertise it in a way that will convince people to want to fork over the money(...and I'm charging a meager $6.66)

Thanks.
I didnt know Kunaki, this looks really nice! Printing sometimes costs a lot, so this would be helpful.

As for open house, well, maybe i cant use this strategy for my band (cos my music is purely gross, i don know how to explain it...), but for most of the band, it would be the best way. (actually, this is the first time that i heard the word "open house". it's some common school event, right?)

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Originally Posted by PPeeks

Thanks.
I didnt know Kunaki, this looks really nice! Printing sometimes costs a lot, so this would be helpful.

As for open house, well, maybe i cant use this strategy for my band (cos my music is purely gross, i don know how to explain it...), but for most of the band, it would be the best way. (actually, this is the first time that i heard the word "open house". it's some common school event, right?)

Not sure if they have them outside* America, but they're basically events where bars, etc. will take anyone to play.

[ThePhanastasio]

Originally Posted by PPeeks

Thanks! These information is really helpful.

Looks like both artists currently have a deal with indie label (or not indie?). Maybe there are lots of musicians who gets famous by the internet, but less people remain "unsigned".

And, wiki said Ingrid Michaelson actually had a manager, her mom. That would be a good way to start a career. (i only got Japanese friends cos im a Japanese, they can be a manager but it would be very difficult. Maybe i have to get out of this country now.)

Julia Nunes is actually still unsigned; her "label" is something that's just her, her mom, and her dad. They just decided to give it a name.

But yes, it's really difficult to get your name out there.

The best you can really do would be to try to get local shows, and get people interested in your music. You could sell burnt copies of your material at your shows for about $5, just to make a tiny bit of money on the deal, so that you could order copies of more professional printed CDs.

And I'm not too sure how it works in other countries, but you could always put together a press kit and try to get some local stations to play your songs, to get the word out in your area and get people to come out to shows when you have gigs.

[Gavin B.]

Roger McGuinn, the former founder of the Byrds has been without a record label for years. He still records "digital only" albums which he records himself and makes available to various online music services like Amazon, iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody. McGuinn's basic agreement with all of the online music services is a 50/50 split on all sales. The retailer keeps 50% and McGuinn receives 50% as his royalty payment.

McGuinn told me that he's made more money as producing his own albums in digital forum using this 50/50 split with online retailers, then he ever did even when the Byrds were at the peak of their popularity in the 60s and 70s. During that era, the Byrds had six albums that sold 1 million+ units and McGuinn says he was never paid a penny in royalties by Columbia Records. Columbia would mail McGuinn a yearly "royalty statement" which billed him for studio use, advertising and promotion costs, touring support, management & advances and he always ended up owing money to Columbia Records.

The fact is that musicians no longer need a record label to be successful recording artists. For a small investment a band can purchase their own studio production software, record their own music, promote their album releases online and use online retailers to sell their music.

Prior to the rise of digital music, musicians were more or less slaves to music labels because record labels owned all the recording studios, the album pressing & production facilities and had the distribution networks to make the musician's album available in thousands of bricks and mortar music retail stores all over the nation. Now that 75% of music buyers purchase most of their music at online music services, record labels have become irrelevant to the process.

If an artist like Roger McGuinn can make money selling his own self produced albums online and managing his own tour appearances... and McGuinn can make more money than he ever did as a full fledged rock star at Columbia Records, what use does any band have for a record label?

The only reason many musicians continue to sign with labels is they often get multi-million dollar advances to sign with music labels... BUT those monetary advances are only loans to the musician that have to be repaid to the music label out of future royalties on album sales. Very few artists end up ever seeing a royalty check after their record label skims off productions costs, touring support, management fees and repayment of money owed the record label in past cash advances to the band or musician.