Chapter Four: Sympathy

Monday, June 16, 2008

It was put to me the other night that perhaps it was time for some positivity in this blog. I have to agree. It’s been a long, visceral journey thus far. So I figured it’s time I provided some solutions and ideas, rather than bile and complaints.

So this post concerns the few people I have real sympathy for during this chaotic period in the music industry: independent record labels and small retailers.

For the small retailers, I can’t provide any ideas. By definition, a small retailer is a niche market anyway. They understand their role, they usually seem happy in it (at least when I wander into their stores) and they should be seasoned enough to maintain and protect their business without any assistance from outside (and especially not from someone like me).

The independent/small record labels (hereafter referred to as “indie labels”) on the other hand … well, they really do appear to need some help and protection. Not from me, but from themselves.

It’s one thing to say that in a decent world, we would buy records from the indie labels and download records from the majors, but its quite another to suggest that indie labels should change their game entirely.

The difficulty with indie labels is that they want to be like the big boys. They want the buying power. They want the clout. They want the media attention. They want to be able to sell their wares - and often they are distinctly high quality wares - to the public at large. Hopefully to the world.

But their great and unique records don’t sell. So they blame public ignorance. They blame downloading. They are suffering without compensation. They are struggling to stay in the black and nobody seems to care.

The problem – as with the majors – is not the public, but the labels themselves. They just cannot let go of the fact that by definition, they are independent. The majors don’t care about them unless there’s something to exploit. The public don’t care either because they don’t even realise the label exists. And if they do, they don’t understand what its role is.

And despite being proudly independent, they depend on everyone. Distribution is the big one. Promotion is a concern. They have the goods, just not the means!

And if only they did. If they could just hook that one good licensing deal. If they could just make people see the value of their wares. And if only kids would stop downloading … !

Maybe they will hook a good sell-on deal. Maybe people will see. Maybe it will work. But in the main, it’s the same old model and the success of it still relies on how hard the bands work. And for some weird reason, bands sign record deals with indies and suddenly get terribly shiftless and lazy.

OK, so the band thinks they now drink for free and it’s all up to the little-label-that-could. Well maybe it is. But as a label owner, what can you do with this insurmountable worry?

Here’s what you do.

You change your business model. You no longer just sell records. Now you also sell bands and artists. You use existing points of presence (ilike, last.fm, myspace, etc.) on the internet to drive traffic to your label’s website. You offer the band’s music for free from your website to get the public’s attention and get it spread far and wide.

You track where the downloads are coming from so you can focus your attention in areas where there is interest. You take it to sympathetic radio stations and print media and online independent media and get their personal support - not their commercial support. You get the people who really matter – the public – on your side. You ignore the industry until they come to you. And believe me, if they smell a dollar, they will. You use your contacts and links in the industry to get the band decent support slots and shows.

Then you take a 25% cut (or more if needs be, I mean, you signed them, right?) of everything those bands make from the very day you sign them. From ticket sales to CD sales to digital sales to the publishing and licensing, right down to ill fitting t-shirts and trinket badges. Skim that 25% (or more) off the top of every dollar that band makes in a year.

Now you have something. And the band has something. And you work together to grow each other’s careers and business relationships and you stay friends forever.

Bands jump ship from small labels because they see the environment changing constantly. They get tired, they get bored, they want more exposure and they want it now. It’s not always because they don’t like the label on a business level or the people running it personally, though sadly they often quietly hold them responsible. They just move faster, think more creatively and want the world more desperately.

Indie labels must become like artists, not like major labels.

They must think in different ways. They must stop trying to fit in. It isn’t going to happen, and if it does, it then opens up both the artists and the labels themselves to a buy-out further down the line. And then all is lost.

Independent labels need to think independently.

Have I provided any hope? I sincerely hope so.

Until the next time … Stay Tuned.