This post dovetails nicely with the one mk recently made titled Personal Content Isn't A Sin. It can be difficult to propagate your own work as an artist on line because the truth is, there aren't a lot of sites that encourage it. I'm a musician and if i want to share my work there are sites that exist but many of them are highly saturated and some, like ReverNation seem to be populated almost entirely by other musicians interested in propagating their work and not discovering someone else's. As ooli mentioned in reference to artists posting their own work, "Self submitting is not only an arbitration between advertiser and creator. It's also a choice between introvert creator and extrovert ones. And for some reason we do not accept easily the second kind." Good luck with your writing, I enjoyed the piece.I also suspect that people like me and that garage band can much more effectively market our own work virally, within niches we know better than anybody else, than an academic publishing house or record company could
-This is assuming that all artists are created equally in regards to their ability to self-promote. Trust me, they aren't and it's a problem because some of the most talented and deserving of attention are the most introverted. This is why the "middle-men" actually have some validity. Some people need a publicist, a manager etc to take care of that which is both foreign to the artist and often terrifying.
Dave Heckman seems to think think labels' (or at least his label's) bigger role now is financing bands: and that's not a role there's a readymade replacement for. Bands that can fund themselves through Kickstarter already have a following.This is assuming that all artists are created equally in regards to their ability to self-promote. Trust me, they aren't and it's a problem because some of the most talented and deserving of attention are the most introverted. This is why the "middle-men" actually have some validity. Some people need a publicist, a manager etc to take care of that which is both foreign to the artist and often terrifying.
I do think record labels, depending on how this transition turns out, might disappear entirely, 5 or 10 years down the road. We still have exposure, distribution, we provide a level of professionalism. Unfortunately I feel more like a banker than a record label at this point. For example, I’m talking to Skinny Puppy right now, that shouldn’t be a surprise. These bands need the 10 or 15 thousand up front, for production, or the Birthday Massacre might need it to live while they record their new album. Unfortunately on the level I’m at, and moreso for majors it’s being a banker. An artist can’t go to a bank. I have a record label, a back catalogue and a certain amount of cash flow. Now a lot of that goes to pay royalties and mechanicals [mechanical reproduction rights - ed.}, but I can pay advances for bands. Part of what a record label has become is a bank.
and that's not a role there's a readymade replacement for. Bands that can fund themselves through Kickstarter already have a following.
You think that Dave Heckman is financing bands that don't have a following?
Metro has definitely released bands that didn't have much of a following at the time in the past. VNV Nation came out of nowhere. They don't seem to do it much anymore, but then there are fewer new bands who want to be associated with Industrial now.
Back when our band was playing regularly, we didn't have a huge following however, the people that did follow us were very supportive. Combine that with friends, family, coworkers etc. and you've got hundreds of people that you can tap on the shoulder for a kick starter campaign. If you are smart about it and don't ask too often, or too much of people then you can have a very successful kick starter campaign without being a very popular group. The problem is some people are fantastic artist but they are very bad marketers. These are the people that still need representation in this modern climate.
I've donated to a lot of failed Kickstarter album campaigns, and to some successful ones. The successful ones were always bands that, while not hugely popular, had fans who really wanted another album. I don't doubt you, but from what I've seen, Kickstarter has only worked for the latter.
I think kickstarter campaigns fail when they are improperly marketed. So many people think that if you create one, people will just naturally flock to it. These same people think that if you have a show, put up a few fliers, that people will come. You have to really challenge people these days if you want a piece of their wallet or a chunk of their time. It's HARD WORK and the artists that treat it as such win.