Making
it Indie Making indie records shouldn't break
the bank.
by Justin Goldberg
Whether you’re
an indie artist ready to record an album’s worth of new songs
or an indie label looking to take flight, Justin Goldberg (founder
of indie911) has some hard-earned advice to share. Adapted from Goldberg’s
book, The Ultimate Guide to the New Music Industry, here’s
a first-hand account that highlights some easy mistakes to avoid when
you’re getting things started.
When I first started Laundry Room Records, I sold my Isuzu Rodeo to
finance the recording of my first signing’s album, Walkie Talkie’s
School Yard Rhymes. I was also the producer on the album, and it was
a terrific experience in the studio.
We had high hopes for the material and as such gave careful attention
to every detail of the recording; analyzing each song’s various
instrumentation needs, arrangements, and sound effects. We hired a
variety of professional players and recorded at some of LA’s
best facilities to do the tracking and mixing.
When we finished making the album, I was almost completely broke –
our marketing budget had been eaten up by the recording budget, which
kept expanding to keep pace with the creative ideas and momentum of
the album’s creation.
The album remains one
of my all time-favorites, but it would have probably reached more
ears if I had been more cautious about the money spent on recording,
which could have been put towards marketing and promotion. It was
to be my first lesson in how to make indie records: you’ve got
to keep it cheap.
There are ways to make money releasing music independently. But unless
you are cashing out a lucky ticket as part of a major label buy out/record
deal, you are likely going to be seeing revenue in small increments
– from licensing, regional distributors, synchronization income
from film/TV or advertising – all of which can add up to a tidy
profit if you are willing to keep your own overhead down.
Of course it depends on
the style of music you are recording and releasing, but generally
speaking, your recording costs should be very low – if you are
a truly indie operation without funding above, say, $50,000, your
album budgets should be well under $10,000, and possibly below $5,000
or even $3,000. Don’t gripe that it can’t be done –
it can be. Maybe you can track somewhere high-end for a day or two
and then scurry the tapes back to a cheaper facility for overdubs
and mixing. Just keep your recording costs down!
Promotion: What you really need the
money for
The main reason for keeping your pennies away from your recording
budget is promotion: in all of its forms, promoting your music is
going to eat up a serious percentage of your available money, regardless
of whether your budget is a thousand or a million dollars.
What you should be spending money on depends on what your goals are.
Some indie releases are geared towards remaining independent while
others are really a vehicle for A&R awareness, with no real marketing
required regarding the release of the material. If the former is the
case, you should determine where it’s most likely you will be
selling your albums based on your genre.
If you have an impressive live show or following, your efforts and
expenses should be focused on selling your records to your audience
and generating additional opportunities to play. Research music festivals
or try to contact appropriate booking agents to book additional live
appearances.
Locate web sites that cater to your genre of music – this is
where you will find like-minded artists and industry-related ears
that may be open to what you do musically. Aside from activities related
to cultivating an online presence, the big promotional angles that
most releases focus on include press, radio and retail – and
each one of these categories will gladly accept your money for promoting
your albums.
Indie label A&R philosophy
The most common mistake small labels make is signing too many acts.
It is certainly the mistake I made at Laundry Room; I was excited
by different projects which were fairly inexpensive to acquire the
rights to, and before I knew it we had half a dozen artists with records
to release, promote, and pay attention to.
I had wrongly assumed that our label would come across as more legitimate
and established to investors, major labels, and distributors if we
had more artists on the roster. Perhaps it did make us seem a bit
further ahead than we really were, but that was also part of what
made the whole idea of too many acts such a big problem.
For a small label with a limited number of employees, it was nearly
impossible to effectively respond to the various issues, needs and
opportunities for each artist. Even major record labels with dozens
of staffers, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of promotional
activities and massive retail distribution support find it difficult
to devote equal time to several artists at once – thus the practice
of designating certain artists as priorities.
Ultimately, a distributor and your bank account would prefer to have
50,000 copies sold of a single artist than three different artists
selling 10,000 copies each. Not only is there 20,000 album’s
worth of additional revenue in your pocket, it’s also cheaper
to achieve those additional sales. With only one artist to focus on,
less time is wasted on coordinating the various promotional activities
other artists, which can have a taxing effect on a small company.
Choosing ‘breakable” talent
for your budget
Signing too many acts is a common problem because people who start
indie labels are usually either music lovers or connected to opportunities
for discovering new artists who have been overlooked.
If you are new to the
A&R game, you are likely to discover a heartbreaking fact about
unsigned music makers: there is an enormous amount of great unsigned
talent out there. The difficult part is understanding that not all
of it is equal in terms of return on your investment. Some talent
is easier to see money coming back in on than others, and often it’s
not what you’d expect.
Certain genres of music that have large independent followings –
punk, hip hop, or folk, for example – can create a great deal
of grassroots awareness via their live shows, web presence, and clever
street marketing. The various components of the scenes around those
genres of music are conducive to selling a relatively small but stable
number of albums with a modest promotional budget.
Ironically, it is the “mainstream” sounding artists in
genres such as pop and R&B who require the promotional muscle
of a major-label machine to make any money at all; it’s simply
too difficult to gain traction at the independent level with artists
in such categories. Try to avoid burdening your label with responsibilities
you do not have the personnel or financial means to handle –
it may drain you of the very resources that could be used towards
breaking one single great artist or record. It’s equally important
to focus on the kinds of artists you have the best resources to promote.
Creating a web site: This brand is your
brand…
Even if you are promoting a simple three-piece rock band, you are
basically creating a brand, and that brand should warrant the same
considerations a large company launching a new product would have.
Your web site is going to be your primary tool for accomplishing this
branding, as it is a direct channel for displaying your talents, story,
or wares via audio, visual, and text-based materials related to your
project.
Your web site is an opportunity to choose fonts, colors and graphics
that best represent your project. You should create a logo and imagery
that is consistent, so people will immediately recognize your promotional
materials if they see them again. There are many variations to the
artist web site, but aside from being visually engaging, it should
also accomplish the following goals:
• Feature music
that can be listened to (and possibly downloaded),
• Link to a location where people can purchase your CD and more
downloads,
• Clearly indicate the structure of the site, and where to find
what,
• Feature a schedule of any live performances,
• Link to other sites hosting some of your music,
• Prominently feature a contact form or email sign up list indicating
where fans or industry can reach the artist.
Creating effective newsletters –
online and off
At every point of contact with the public, whether it’s online
at your web site, or offline at a live performance, you should have
a clearly marked station where people can join a mailing list or emailing
list to receive a newsletter.
Newsletters are an inexpensive
and effective method for branding your project in the minds of your
audience. If properly executed, newsletters can offer a great opportunity
to solidify the connection between the audience and the artist. Newsletters
are usually focused on notifying fans of upcoming shows, CD releases,
or other events relevant to the audience. It’s important to
keep them clever and to the point so they don’t get thrown out
and fail their purpose.
If your primary purpose is to send out newsletters built around certain
live appearances, be sure to break down your list by region and only
notify those who live in the area where you are headed to perform;
no sense in driving everyone on an email list nuts if they’re
all over the country and you’re only doing small local shows
for a while.
Marketing plan
Actually, before you get to a web site and newsletter, you should
probably sit down and draft a marketing plan. A marketing plan puts
all the pertinent information for a band and/or label in one place,
including the goals and benchmarks you are trying to achieve, so people
working on different ends of the same project can be on the same page.
Even when the “label” is really just you and your multiple
personalities, it’s helpful to have an actual marketing plan.
Typically, there are two versions of the same marketing plan: one
for your own “in-house” use (that will include costs and
potentially sensitive company details you may want kept only for internal
use) and an official version for public consumption furnished to your
distributor(s), sales staff, and anyone else who is part of the project.
On the internal version, be sure to tally up all related costs so
you know your real budget.
Realistic budgets make for good business! Establish your limits and
set realistic goals. And whatever level you’re on, you should
always revisit, restructure, and assess progress in timely increments
to determine what is working, what needs improvement, and what needs
to be tossed out the window.
Justin Goldberg is
a 15-year veteran of the music industry and is one of its best known
music executives as the business has transitioned into the digital
age, having held senior executive positions with Sony, Tonos, Riffage,
and Laundry Room Records. A well-known advocate for independent artists,
he has worked with such artists as Dave Grohl, Dee Dee Ramone, Willie
Nelson, and Rage Against The Machine. He is also the artist manager
for Hollywood Records artists, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals.
A visible author and
lecturer, Goldberg is the CEO and founder of indie911 [http://www.indie911.com].
He is the author of the best known guide to today’s music business, The Ultimate Survival Guide to the New Music Industry: Handbook
for Hell, published by the Hollywood Reporter.
