Getting an offer from a record label was once the dream of every musician, but today’s artists recognize other ways to get ahead.
The music industry is in a constant state of evolution. That has always been true, but technology has hastened the speed of change. Marketing today looks nothing like it did a decade ago, which itself felt far removed from the marketing efforts of the late 1990s. That is one of the countless examples of how the industry is evolving, and change won’t be stopping anytime soon.
Record labels were once the height of an artist’s aspirations. “If only I can get the attention of a label,” many musicians thought, “then the world will notice me.”
But time has taught us that isn’t true. There are many musicians with record deals who face the same fate as those without. These artists may get the resources that labels offer, but no amount of money or corporate planning can guarantee success.
The truth is that the consumer always dictates who is and is not successful. Major label money can do a lot, but so can a teenager with 4-million TikTok followers who love to watch them dance.
That brings us to a question that seems to come up every year: Do you need a record label? After all, is the debt artists accept for a shot at success worth the risk of nobody listening to their creative output? Is trusting yourself and your team the smarter and more fiscally responsible path?
In the latest Music Biz video, host James Shotwell investigates the necessity of record labels in 2021. He shares the questions every artist should ask before entertaining any recording contract offers and warns of the drawbacks to staying independent. He even shares an example of one musician who ignored major label money and had a better career as a result.
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
With a growing global audience and low startup costs, podcasts are the next step in digital marketing and fan engagement.
Did you know that 50% of all US homes are podcast fans? How about the fact that over 44% of the entire US population, or roughly 124 million people, listened to podcasts over the last twelve months?
On a global scale, more than one in four residents of Japan, France, Canada, Italy, the United States, Australia, Sweden, and Spain listen to podcasts monthly. In South Korea, more than half of the entire population (58%) listens to podcasts on a monthly is.
These figures and other available online are growing with each passing month. Podcasts were practically unknown a decade ago, but today there are more than 500,000 shows offering millions of hours of entertainment for listeners. Studies show the average podcast fan commits to six or seven shows each week, and most (80%) listen to each episode in full. Podcast listeners are, on average, smart and loyal listeners who actively support the shows they enjoy through either digital promotion, crowdfunding, or engagement with sponsors who make their favorite programs possible.
All this data is impressive, but what is even crazier is how few musicians have decided to engage their fans through podcasts.
A podcast can be anything you want. Some choose to interview people they find interesting, while others stick to a theme or subject. Pop-punk band Waterparks host a series where they read fan fiction about their group. The possibilities are endless!
The perks of having a podcast are numerous, including:
Direct engagement with fans
Ability to deliver new content to fans regularly
A promotional vehicle for tours, albums, and anything else
Creates future promotional material (you can share clips on your social media)
Allows fans to know you better (they don’t have to stalk you, they just have to listen)
Provides a platform to discuss and dissect your art
Potential to create new fans for your music through conversation
Fill time while at home or on the road that is otherwise spent scrolling social media or staring out the window
Potential for extra income, either through fans buying merchandise or sponsors getting behind the show
Podcasts are also incredibly cheap to create. Many shows are recorded using a smartphone voice memo app, but others use the same microphones artists use to create demos in their home studios. Hosting is available through a number of providers, including several that have offers for free hosting to first-time users, as well as free distribution to major platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.
Furthermore, with Spotify’s recent acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor the streaming giant — who already has a large stake in podcasting — is planning to promote podcasts heavily in the months and years to come. Artists with shows will not only be able to promote their music and vice versa through a single platform, but they will also be able to earn streaming royalties from their podcast. That’s money which, unless otherwise agreed to in a contract, goes directly to the artist behind the show. It’s a side hustle that helps the main focus of an artist’s career in many ways.
Competition is music is growing fiercer by the day, and most acts use the same tricks as every other artist or business or consumer to build their audience. But right now, for what will likely be a very short window of time, there is a market for musicians willing to open up in podcasting that is largely overlooked. Any artist would be foolish to not take advantage of this opportunity. Podcasting offers a chance to grow closer to fans, build an audience, and earn a few extra bucks. What more could you want?
The internet has given us many gifts. Among them, the ability to connect with like-minded people from all over the world ranks as one of the best. Anyone with access to the internet can find people with similar interests and work together to build something great.
Brockhampton, the Billboard-topping rap group/boy band, is a good example. The members found one another through an online music forum and began working on music together before they had met in person. That initial connect has since spawned multiple albums, numerous sold-out performances, and press from seemingly every important entertainment publication in existence.
The problem for many trying to develop a band or group through the internet is sharing ideas without allowing incomplete tracks to reach the public. Soundcloud has no security measures beyond easily shareable links. YouTube has the same problem. WeTransfer and Dropbox are good, but they still require a lot of effort to access material, hear it, download it, update it, upload the changes, and share it once more.
Haulix is a superior solution. Though known as a hub for new and pre-release music promotion, Haulix is also used by many music professionals to aid in the development of songs by allowing artists and their team to share material still being refined without fear of piracy.
Let’s use an example to further illustrate this approach:
Red Springs is a metal band featuring members located all over the world. The vocalist lives in Chicago, but the bassist and drummer live in London. The lead guitarist is from Spain, and the rhythm guitarist makes their home in Southern California. Getting together for practice is no easy feat, but getting together to write and work on new material is financially impossible.
To make their metal dreams come true without risking member changes or extreme debt, Red Springs use Haulix to share new and incomplete ideas. The drummer and bassist record scratch tracks and upload those files to Haulix as a new promo. Once complete, they invite the other members of the band to stream, download, and review the material. The other members then use their unique access links to engage with the ideas.
From there, each member of the band can add their own part to the material or choose to create and upload an idea of their own. Those members then share their latest work with the group, allowing everyone to access the content and work on new ideas or suggestions on their own time.
Once their latest material is complete, the band can schedule studio time or work on properly recording their material themselves. They can continue using Haulix to save songs as they are complete, and in doing so push their band forward without worrying about conflicting schedules or time zones.
Every new Haulix account receives one-month of service for free. You can visit the company website to review their plans and find the one that best suits your needs. Cancel anytime during that first month, and you will not be charged.
The following post is the latest in our ongoing content collaboration series with the fine folks at SonicBids. Enjoy!
Like a luxury car loaded down with options, recording with a ton of gear has some downsides. There’s a lot that can go wrong, and it’s expensive. What about stripping things down, all the way down, and recording your band with a single mic?
The Cowboy Junkies did it back in 1987 for their album The Trinity Session, and the results were solid enough that the record earned a four-star review from Rolling Stone, in which Anthony DeCurtis praises the consistent ambience in which “the entire record seems like one continuously unfolding song.”
But getting a good recording from a single mic seems like a tall order, and goes against everything we’ve been taught. Close mic’d drums, isolation booths, and attempts to eradicate any sort of bleed have been part of the business for recording artists almost forever.
Is it realistic to get a great sound with players gathered around a single microphone, and would that mic need to cost as much as that luxury car in the first paragraph? Yes… and no.
1. Pick a mic
Technology often does us the favor of reducing the price of things we need. You can get this Blue Microphones Yeti USB mic for under $140, and it’s made for just this sort of project. Of course, if you have access to a really nice large-diaphragm condenser mic, try that, too – but it needs to be a stereo microphone, like the Yeti.
If a stereo mic isn’t available, you might have to fall back on two condenser mics in the XY pattern (crisscrossing one another to form an X). Test your mic options and see what sounds best. You’re looking for clarity, even for the instruments that are farther from the mic capsule, and an ability to absorb nearer sounds (like lead vocals) without distorting.
2. Pick a space
The Cowboy Junkies set up in a church. Using a large room is preferred for this sort of project, like a lecture hall or auditorium. If that’s not an option, use a living room, complete with furniture and a TV.
It doesn’t matter where you go, but the room needs to sound good and be devoid of large outside noises like creaking radiators or someone mowing the lawn right outside the window. Avoid rooms with a lot of glass, and keep your single mic far away from any large windows.
3. Get everybody to play quietly
It’s absolutely critical that everyone in your band finds his or her quiet voice, a process that can be harder than it sounds. After all, the instruments need to be quiet enough that the players can hear your lead vocalist, and there needs to be a little headroom so you can all get a little louder on certain passages.
Drummers may want to switch to brushes. Guitarists may go acoustic. Bassists may turn to the upright. Practice something you’ve probably never practiced before: playing below conversational volume.
4. Create balance in the room
Once you’ve found the sweet spot in the room, arrange your instruments and players so that the loudest instruments are farther away. You lead singer needs to be closest to the microphone, close enough to hear vocal details, but not so close that sound from the instruments is blocked. Do test recordings and adjust the placement of your instruments until a good balance is achieved.
This is also the time to check for tripping hazards, tuck cords away, and remove extraneous sound sources from the area – vibrating phones in pockets, jingling wallet chains, or crunchy leather jackets. This will be a live recording, so breath sounds and creaky floors will be part of it. Don’t add any more sonic artifacts than you have to.
5. Record without telling your band
A live recording has to be as pressure-free and fun as possible to get everyone playing well at the same time. It goes without saying that you have to be well rehearsed, but you also need to be having a good time. Once your sound is good and your instruments are balanced, it’s time to discreetly press record and do some “practice” takes that could be the real deal. Work through all of your songs before anyone knows you’re recording. Chances are, some of these will be final takes.
Continue working until you have three takes of each song. More than that and people start to get bored with the material. Now you can sleep on it, leaving everything in position, and come back tomorrow for the enjoyable process of picking the best take. If you go zero-for-three on one of your songs, you can always track it a couple more times.
6. Resist the temptation to overdub
Remember that consistent mood that made the whole album feel like one song? You’ve just created that vibe for your recording… and you’ll ruin it by cutting and pasting stuff, adding overdubs, or editing the track for length (such as adding a fade-out). The beauty of live recordings is their immediacy and honesty. Glory in that, and make a record that will whisper in your fans’ ears.
Jesse Sterling Harrison is an author, recording artist, and part-time farmer. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, three daughters, and a herd of ducks.
This is the latest post in our ongoing collaboration with SonicBids.
In today’s highly competitive music industry, it seems like it’s becoming harder and harder for independent artists to break through the noise into the mainstream. Record labels are constantly bombarded with samples from “the next big thing,” but what’s the trick to actually standing out from the crowd? A high-quality demo is the perfect place to start.
A demo is a recording that demonstrates the talent behind an artist or band, usually created specifically for the purpose of convincing a record company (or other opportunities) that they should work with you. It needs to be well thought out, but come off as authentic. Short and sweet, but deep and powerful. Good quality, but not overproduced.
So what are some of the trade secrets to recording a great demo? Here are some tips and tricks.
1. Have a unique vision for where you’re going
It’s crucial when laying down the initial take to be thinking about the overall shape and vision for the idea. It’s a demo, of course, and when being spontaneous you might not want to write detailed parts.However, after you’ve built a strong foundation for a song, every other musical decision you make will come easier because it’s based off of something that is real to you. It’s that genuine passion that can ultimately come out when a record executive listens and helps you stand out, as guitarist Jack Côté explains: “My best guess at what the ‘it’ factor is, is something that’s catchy – familiar enough for people to enjoy, but also different and unique, bold and honest as possible. I think people can tell easily when things feel derivative, so it’s mostly about being as musically unique as possible.”
2. Capture ideas on the fly
Traditionally, recording a demo could only be done in a recording studio. It required time and energy spent writing the actual song, then countless hours rehearsing it before paying to make the final recording. Now, thanks to the ever-changing world of technology, musicians can capturing ideas right as inspiration strikes. They don’t always have to be fully fleshed-out ideas, but rather can serve as a reminder of great thoughts for future reference.
“Where we’ve had great traction as a band is capturing those spontaneous, genuine moments,“ shares Matt Hines of Dan & The Wildfire. "We often jam, trying out new ideas, committing those sparks of inspiration to a recording simply to listen back to later, and so as not to forget that riff we liked by the next time we meet. It’s such a joy to be able to go back and listen through so many ideas and rehearsals and moments from the past few years.”
3. Don’t sacrifice sound quality
Five years ago if you told a record executive you were submitting a demo that was recorded on a phone, they would have laughed you out of the room. Even today, when recording on the go is becoming a more common occurrence for independent artists who are often traveling from gig to gig, chances are recordings will come out sounding awful, thanks to the less-than-superior microphones on today’s smart phones. Luckily, there are new apps out there that exist to help solve this problem. One of them is Spire, powered by iZotope. Spire is a free 4-track recorder that adds professional polish to your recordings so you can record, mix, and share great-sounding audio anytime inspiration may strike.
No matter how you end up recording a demo, the important thing to remember is to make it a reflection of who you are as an artist. Staying inspired and motivated are traits you should never lose in this industry, and will only help drive you towards that breakthrough musical moment!
Spire is partnering with Sonicbids to discover the best original tracks to feature on the Inspired Collection, an official Spire SoundCloud playlist. To enter, just download the free Spire Recorder app (iOS only), record your original song, and enter it for free on Sonicbids by December 2, 2015.
In addition, the songwriter with the most incredible song will be selected to be featured in a performance video, shot in their favorite recording space. We’re so excited to hear all your original creations! Be sure to enter by December 2.
Stacey Dyer Messier is the strategic, creative liaison between product and marketing for the Spire brand, which is passionately designed by iZotope. As a trained vocalist and past performer of metal, jazz, trip-hop, and classic rock, she’s excited to be working with the incredibly talented members of Sonicbids.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for making your way to our blog. The article you are about to enjoy was written for us by Jesse Cannon based on a request from our staff. Jesse is a music producer, podcast host, author, and someone seemingly everyone in the alternative music realm wants to know. He’s also one of the smartest people we have ever had the pleasure of working with, and we’re thrilled to host some of his insight on the industry this afternoon. If you want to learn more about Jesse’s work, please follow him on Twitter as soon as time allows.
Last week we saw a tidal wave of news about Jay Z’s new streaming music service Tidal, which sadly swept away the even bigger news of the day a new audio format from Native Instruments called Stems. This new format being packaged by one of the most ubiquitous manufacturers in music today and solves a problem that music creators have been dealing with for years.
Stems themselves are nothing new, even packaging them has been going on since Todd Rundgren released a CD-i ( a short lived pre-CDR format) in 1993 which enabled you to play with stems and remix songs. For the uninitiated stems are what a mixing engineer makes for an artist at the end of a record if they want to have remixes done, submit their music for Rock Band-type games, get their songs in movies with surround sound mixes or for use of backing tracks in a group’s live music setup. Instead of getting the individual tracks of a song without their mix processing, mix engineers print the effects and multiple tracks down to a stereo mix of each element such as drums, bass, guitar, vocals. These files can then be passed on to a remixer to be reworked into whatever fashion they see fit.
So if this has been going on for years you may wonder why me and every other dork with a MIDI controller is so excited? The world of giving and receiving stems has always been chaotic. Whether they are sent in extreme excess, unlabeled in varied sampling rate and bit sizes, exchanging stems has been a nightmare for the past 3 decades. The Stems format is first and foremost a container for 5 audio files in the Apple developed MP4 format (these files are also compatible with iTunes and will be able to be developed by other services to be played back and dissected). This files contains a regular mix and then 4 elements which most commonly will be drums, bass, accompaniment (aka guitars, synth, main chord changes being played in the song) and vocals. This along with some meta data will help make this file exchange to be a more organized world, coupled with files being presented in more manageable sizes instead of excessively large wav files, we can expect to see this making the world of mashups, remix and altering files to get way easier.
Native Instruments, the most popular manufacturer of soft synths, samplers and other music production instruments introducing this format ensures it will be widely adopted. Their popular DJ software Traktor is the first to adopt the new format, ensuring it will be used to creatively mix and match song elements in DJ sets across the country soon. Once a musician has a Stems file authored they can distribute it however they may see fit. This can obviously be used to promote music that is remixable by allowing DJs to use it creatively in their sets.
But what about those who don’t care for remixes? This format will enable musicians to get educated and break down parts of songs like they never have before. For far too long stems have been exchanged across closed links and are rarely made publicly available. An open, organized exchange of these files will allow musicians to isolate and learn from the way each instrument is used in some of their favorite songs. Never before have musicians had this much access to get educated about what makes their favorite songs work.
For those who do care about remixes, this will enable a world that can often be gated to be opened to everyone and democratize the remix world and spur more enjoyable and innovative remixes. The format will open up sometime in the next few months and I am very excited to see what it will do for music creation and education.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the first of what will be eventually two new Advice columns this week. We are always on the lookout for new ways artists have found to navigate the industry, and whenever possible we do our best to have them share their journey in their owns words. If you know of an artist or group currently doing something unique in music, please contact james@haulix.com and share their story. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
If your band is a business and your music is the product your efforts produce, then all the artwork, photos, and merchandise you create to promote that product falls under the category of packaging. The problem many bands face today is that they become far too obsessed with the packaging aspect of things to focus on the quality of their product. The results of these misguided efforts, unfortunately, is that many of these artists must learn the hard that no one buys a well packaged product twice if its contents are underwhelming.
Your image is only as good as the music behind it, and that is exactly why you need to put your music before everything else in your career. You need to create the best product you possibly can, and only after you feel that is accomplished should you set your sights on finding the best way to share that product with the world. The instant gratification that comes with earning new followers from witty messaging and eye-catching imagery via social networking can only build and sustain your transparent ‘buzz’ for a small amount of time, but a well-written song can live on forever. Music hooks people in a way basic marketing tricks never will because it forges an emotional connection that goes deeper than surface level interest, and it’s in forging those connections with listeners that lasting, sustainable careers in music emerge.
Recently, our friends at The Catalyst Publicity Group turned us on to a rising alternative rock band known as REACTIONS. For more than a year after inception the members never showed their face, choosing instead to focus on building awareness online with the strength of their music. When the time did come to tour, they were met in cities across the country by lines of music fans ready to support people they had never met or even seen, and that trend continues today. People follow REACTIONS because they have a quality product, and that product is catchy rock music that keeps you coming back for more. They don’t need a trendy look or obnoxious artwork to sell people on their band because the music does the work for them, and in the paragraphs below you will learn from the members themselves how it all came together.
The title of “musician” has taken on more and more responsibility in recent years. Due to a rough economy and tanking industry, those who seek a career in being an artist have to face many challenges. From starting out being your own manager and booking agent,to being the face and voice of a brand. It seems like these days, musicians cling to what “works”
Unfortunately, with any sort of entertainment career, trends and gimmicks are inevitable. These can sidetrack and derail from the true nature of being an artist: create, perform and inspire.
Reactions has been a band for a few years and through our journey we have had our fair share of drawbacks. Just like many bands, we have been suckered into trying things and persuaded to change. Although we have gone through our fair share of setbacks since forming, recently we have taken a step back and reevaluated what we want. On our upcoming self titled EP, we have tried to focus more on the music and what we want, rather than fit a trend or a look inside the music scene.
In 2011, when first starting REACTIONS, we decided to have a band mission statement. This statement was simple, “REACTIONS is about the music, not the image”. We were determined to start a band strictly about the music. We launched a “faceless” campaign within REACTIONS, never showing our faces online and changing our online names. From 2011 to 2012, we did not play any shows and remained “faceless”, focusing on our online presence. After reaching thousands of people online and launching what we called “The Rebellion”, we decided to start touring. The response to our first tour was incredible.
As we played in cities we had never even been to before, kids were coming out to see us with lines down the street. As we continued, it became evident that we had a connection with our fans. We connected with our music, as well as on a personal level. We were reaching kids that were the “outcasts” and the kids who didn’t fit in. When we were driving home from our last date, we decided as a band, we needed to become role models for our fans. We wanted to show them that it was okay to be yourself and you don’t need to “fit in”. That is when we decided to release what we looked like and stand up with them, by their sides.
The “faceless” campaign helped us connect with a lot of fans, online and on tour. Although, ir also helped REACTIONS grow and become better musicians and people. We realized that we need to be true to ourselves. Play the music we want to play and never try to fit the trend or latest fashion. The REACTIONS EP is the most honest music we have put out as a band. We wrote and worked on songs for over a year, perfecting each song until we were completely happy with them. We believe that being true to yourself and not “looking like that band” or “playing shows like this band” will help you become more successful as a musician and person.
In the recent years, we have seen the music scene go from bad to worse. It seems that fans are so hung up on the looks of band members and artist crushes, they don’t even listen to the music. REACTIONS main goal is to bring the fans closer to the music. We want them to connect with the music. At the end of the day, the music is the only thing that matters. Everything else is extra.
