How To Get A Record Deal – 2015 Edition
I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented, well produced artist to major labels. Years ago I was a VP of a major label and have been in the business for decades. We all know that record sales have been taken over by streaming. Very few people are buying records anymore. So it’s tough these days to be a record label.
Guest Post by Stephen Wrench on Musik and Film
The artist I was pitching spent several hundred thousand dollars with the best producers and studios. The production is fabulous. The songs are great and so are the performances. With that, one would think that obtaining a major label would not be an issue.
After pitching the album to about every major label, I started making calls to my contacts at the labels. Naturally my first question was “How did you like the music”? I was shocked at the answers I received. “Well I took a look at their social media numbers and they weren’t very good”. But how did you like the music? They never listened to it because their social media numbers were not good enough?
So this is what music has come to a social media contest? Where would the greats be today if they were dependent upon social media numbers? Would we have ever heard Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones or Michael Jackson?
Music is supposed to evoke emotion and not be just a number. Does a million you tube hits evoke emotion? Record labels’ sales may be in the toilet but maybe that is because they are concentrating on the wrong thing instead of the music. After all, it is all about the music and if the music is great and evokes emotion to make you laugh or cry, it is memorable and that’s what creates a great album, one that people actually buy.. Let’s get back to concentrating on making great music and the labels might sell some records again.
I feel like getting labels and other non-engaged folks to listen to new music is almost as bad as pulling teeth without being sedated first. There are many artist out there who deserve an equal shot that may not have a huge following on facebook or twitter. If they could just get the proper exposure the “online” following would happen almost overnight. A great example of this is the artist “JACKbeTRIPP” http://www.JACKbeTRIPP.com . That’s why the music industry seems relatively unchanged since early 2000’s. The record label forgot that developing new talent is just as important as signing major artists.
What a total bullshit… A million Youtube hits does not evoke emotion, you idiot… it “only” means that the music evokes emotion in one million people. How old are you? 13? Because your argument is on a 13 years old level.
Wow. So it’s not even a matter of who you know any more, but how many people follow you on Facebook and Twitter?
As for Des’s comment – a million YouTube hits doesn’t necessarily mean the song is any good, there could be a myriad of reasons a song has reached high numbers. So if you’re going to make an argument, make sure it’s not yourself that sounds like a 13 year old.
That aside, good luck bands – you need all the help you can get in today’s world. Try http://www.eatnoise.com on for size, a social media platform specifically for working artists.
Absolutely it should be about the music. However, labels stopped actively developing artists and taking risks. With the financial contraction of the industry to 1/3 its size, an extreme conservatism set in with labels: focus on a small set of established artists, with the occasional signing of the “safe bet” that sounds just like what succeeded before.
Music today has unfortunately lost its real talent. Musical genius is history. Long gone are the artists who had real gifts in instrumentation, lyrics and composition. The greats are all dead replaced by idiot techno junkies and carnival acts on stage and video. You all know exactly what I mean. Pretending that today’s music is anything more than garbage and sex videos is a deception that small brained people have succumbed to. The human race has lost its intelligence for music just as it has for so many other disciplines in life. Medicine, philosophy, religion, and government have all been overtaken by commercialism and profiteering greed mongers with no sense or respect for the truth.
The real subject here is finding true artists and focusing on presenting them to the world. A music ‘messiah’ if you will. Someone who will open the heart and mind of humanity through highly emotional, intellectual and soul moving compositions. The music must heal, inspire, transcend, and uniquely envelop the mind, soul and spirit of our being. It must be evolved yet deeply penetrate into the human nature of mankind’s past, present and future. Who could ever accomplish all this but a truly gifted musical genius. Anyone less is just a cheap “Dollar Store” spinoff that is being marketed with money. With lots of money anyone can be successful. No music talent needed. The real reason labels are so inactive is because no one out there today is worth listening too.
Have you heard about tru musik records? It an independent label. Check free songs from recording artist “da Ace” just go here: https://soundcloud.com/daron-da-ace-wilbert
Uhh.. A great recording does not always communicate the soul of the artist. Nor do ultra expensive producers. One’s gotta have gigs, have gigs, have gigs (and be very lucky) to get any reliable following in most cases. All the now legends started as bands, gigging and gigging. There was a buzz, people got interested. U2 and Depeche Mode toured and toured, toured and toured and created the following. They were great live acts and people took notice. Thar person should have invested the money to touring…
Well, there are a thousand artist out there with a great product, but because there marketing/ showmanship and exposure via the net is poor, they will never have an opportunity to get there product to the masses. Music is still a business. The business has evolved. Only those that can capitalize in this period of evolution will survive. All others, no matter how great they are, will ever make it.
Its not extremely expensive to get a descent social media campaign up and going. It just time, consistency, and dedication. We offer this service (Social Media Marketing & SEO) to indie and major label artist alike. If you don’t have a budget for this, you might as well not even embark on this journey with the intent of profiting from it.
For more info, check out http://www.beatstarzmgmt.com
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No record deal, self funded…real talent: Jasper Sawyer. Check out his songs in YouTube. Ayo, I’m Working Hard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiNZQnGjG5o
Jon bellion is that kind of artist
Getting a record deal is a formula that is needed to be met. Only those who have many labels at their disposal and experience in getting signed releases can help. We guarantee a record label release and will include the ghost production as well.
Getting a record deal is a formula that is needed to be met. Only those who have many labels at their disposal and experience in getting signed releases can help. We guarantee a record label release and will include the ghost production as well.
You just have to be a slut and give the boss a blowy
Good post, but now you can simply buy a record deal leaving the need to know how and work for it – https://producerfactory.com/how-to-get-a-record-deal.html
As ever, the industry is run by that which speaks the loudest. Money.