Please Self-Release Me, Let Me Go

well, that's great too

stefolof wrote: Nakatira wrote: stefolof wrote: Nakatira wrote: I finally decided that I wanted some profesionalisme on the end process on the record and hired Pink Floyd's engineer (from 83) to do the Mastering, wich IMO maid all the difference, and I got various friends online that had experience with artwork to help me with the layout finish. Are you talking about Andy Jackson? He did the the mastering for our latest album as well!    Yup.   were you satisfied with the result?, it sure made wonders on our stuff. Yes, it definitely added a dimension to the music and unified the sound over the different songs. He was very easy to work with as well.

stefolof wrote: Nakatira wrote: I finally decided that I wanted some profesionalisme on the end process on the record and hired Pink Floyd's engineer (from 83) to do the Mastering, wich IMO maid all the difference, and I got various friends online that had experience with artwork to help me with the layout finish. Are you talking about Andy Jackson? He did the the mastering for our latest album as well!

MaxerJ wrote: okay i have done a massive tl;dr and I am just responding to Dean's OP. I'd just like to give the example of Rain's album Cerulean Blue. Rain has self-released this album, and yet not only is it one of the best of 2009, but it sounds the best. It sounds completely professional, even more so than many actual professional albums of the year.

jplanet wrote: Weighing in my perspective as a self-released artist: I agree that with the internet we are now inundated with music, and much of it really is crap. But you have to choose your resources, and not subject yourself to the direct barrage of independently-released music on, let's say, Myspace, CD Baby, etc...If one doesn't have the time to go listening to hundreds of samples and pick out the quality ones themselves, they can certainly turn to the many reviewers, bloggers, dj's, and (ahem) forums that cater to similar tastes. Look for recommendations on Last.fm or Jango - there are lots of ways of finding music that filters through the natural chain of listeners, rather than record company executives. The biggest positive side to all of this is that a few corporations are no longer in charge of what is popular. I believe that what record companies always feared about Napster and the like, is not that people would have an alternative to buying, but an alternative to whatever was being pushed on the radio and popular media. Sure, you still have big bands like U2 and Bruce Springsteen filling arenas, but they established themselves under the "old guard". Newer bands have to work extremely hard to get noticed in the crowd, and niches such as prog will now never be developed by major labels, and indie labels are lost in the midst of self-released artists as well. Note that some of the most talked-about prog acts are now self-released (Izz, Phideaux, Spock's Beard) - I'm talking about the staples of the prog festivals, not complete unknowns. When my band's first album was released on a respectable indie label, we discovered that at some point along the way, distribution was controlled, in part, by a major label (Warner). So, you try to post clips of your music to Last.fm and Myspace, and you end up receiving a notice that you are a copyright infringer! I would have no problem if they were putting us on tour with Muse, but they're not. It was still up to us to promote ourselves. So, we now fit into the category of self-released, but it is by choice. This is how we are able to stream the entire CD from our website for free, and give away sales revenues to charity without any hassle. I can freely put CDs in the hands of people who will appreciate the music and talk about it. When people buy our CD's through our site or CD Baby, we can invite them to join our mailing list, develop a relationship with our listeners. You can't do this while being on an indie label, as their main concern is still selling CD's. But a band acting on its own can develop a longer-term strategy to raise awareness before monetizing a product nobody knows about.

Times have changed and  I agree that the days of swashbuckling managers like Peter Grant  & overnight sensations are a thing of the past ( remember that Boston song Rock & Roll Band ) and unless you're some sort of freak like Lady Ga Ga patience is a virtue. If you're talented you've got to get your stuff out there and let the people decide. Most people don't know anything about music and go with the flow so they go out and buy Susan Boyle's album from Sony music for $12.99. Be on the safe side. ( I'm not knocking her mind you, Céline's got nothing on her. Seriously. If I were Céline I'd go and hide under the nearest rock after hearing Susan sing Amazing Grace! Chicken soup but she does it well).

 Kind of makes me wonder why a lot of bands didn't make it back in the seventies. One example might be Gnidrolog who were on the RCA label in the early seventies. Elvis, David Bowie and Lou Reed were also on the same label. Who's going to get the backing. A rinky dink experimental band that plays medieval rock or the heavy hitters? I have a cousin who was in the music biz and was involved with promoting bands and he just couldn't do it anymore because there was no heart. One of the bands he was involved with was the Jeff Healey Band who couldn't get a deal here in Canada literally had to self-manage themselves and go banging on doors with demos down in the States before they got a deal with Sony Music back in `87 or `88.

As much as I detest computers and the internet I've discovered music that I would have otherwise been oblivious to. I would have probably never have heard of Shadow Circus or any of the other freaked out bands that I listen to from the Russian Federation even though I've always been the one to keep my ears open. I think in the long haul it's getting better for both but time will tell. I'm glad to see that vinyl is coming back. I just ordered Hamburger Concerto on 180 g vinyl! Would like to see the day return when bands can say that they are literally going into the studio to cut" a record

Weighing in my perspective as a self-released artist:

I agree that with the internet we are now inundated with music, and much of it really is crap. But you have to choose your resources, and not subject yourself to the direct barrage of independently-released music on, let's say, Myspace, CD Baby, etc...If one doesn't have the time to go listening to hundreds of samples and pick out the quality ones themselves, they can certainly turn to the many reviewers, bloggers, dj's, and (ahem) forums that cater to similar tastes. Look for recommendations on Last.fm or Jango - there are lots of ways of finding music that filters through the natural chain of listeners, rather than record company executives.

The biggest positive side to all of this is that a few corporations are no longer in charge of what is popular. I believe that what record companies always feared about Napster and the like, is not that people would have an alternative to buying, but an alternative to whatever was being pushed on the radio and popular media. Sure, you still have big bands like U2 and Bruce Springsteen filling arenas, but they established themselves under the "old guard". Newer bands have to work extremely hard to get noticed in the crowd, and niches such as prog will now never be developed by major labels, and indie labels are lost in the midst of self-released artists as well.

Note that some of the most talked-about prog acts are now self-released (Izz, Phideaux, Spock's Beard) - I'm talking about the staples of the prog festivals, not complete unknowns.

When my band's first album was released on a respectable indie label, we discovered that at some point along the way, distribution was controlled, in part, by a major label (Warner). So, you try to post clips of your music to Last.fm and Myspace, and you end up receiving a notice that you are a copyright infringer! I would have no problem if they were putting us on tour with Muse, but they're not. It was still up to us to promote ourselves.

So, we now fit into the category of self-released, but it is by choice. This is how we are able to stream the entire CD from our website for free, and give away sales revenues to charity without any hassle. I can freely put CDs in the hands of people who will appreciate the music and talk about it. When people buy our CD's through our site or CD Baby, we can invite them to join our mailing list, develop a relationship with our listeners. You can't do this while being on an indie label, as their main concern is still selling CD's. But a band acting on its own can develop a longer-term strategy to raise awareness before monetizing a product nobody knows about.

 www.progarchives.com ALERT!!                                               ( 3-1/2 swigs of Vodka later)

...casual viewin', head buried in the sand.

Edited by Dean - February 04 2010 at 02:12

^^ The Lefsetz article is certainly a very perceptive analysis of what a particular demographic is looking for with regards to 'value' from music. (i.e. young people, and no I'm not going to define that as the author hasn't bothered to either) However, as plausible as the many ramifications are that he outlines for the music industry driven by this very large market, let's not confuse the general with the particular shall we ? Although a relatively smaller niche market, Crusties have a lot of spending power and thus considerable leverage as consumers. Their idea of great music (as evidenced by this site) can at least be defined albeit very fuzzily. What exactly (or even vaguely, I'm not greedy) does Bob the Peripheral Visionary think constitutes 'great music ?'
I suspect your hero Mr L fancies himself as a soothsayer of cutting edge but comes across as a rather glib McLuhan wannabe. We have a mandate for bitchin, it's called consumer sovereignty and any business that ignores such will be missing the point and disappear faster than its products.

The Golden Rule: Those who have the gold make the rules


Edited by ExittheLemming - February 03 2010 at 23:29