It's always been the number one objective of many an aspiring artist to get a record deal. For most bands and solo performers anything less would be unthinkable. After all, what's the point of being in the music industry in the first place if you're not going to secure a license or deal culminating in the sale of records? Getting that label to sign your product is the thing that will change your life and trigger the real launch to your career as a recording artist - isn't it?
The very notion of securing that first record contract may be a conditioning, instilled upon every musician and vocalist from the time he/she first performed in public or strummed a guitar - arguably a conditioning as vital as the life blood coursing through our veins, or getting a driving license. Without it, you're not going to go far. If that is your thinking, you may be in for a shock - a big shock. The prestige of being signed to a record label, and the credibility it carries, may be about to change big time.
If you were to ask me, "is getting a record deal as important today as in the past?" I would answer "yes," but the real question should be, "what can record companies offer in today's markets?" In the days of the physical labels, it seemed to be more "what could artists offer to record companies?" How often did these creative souls (and often their managers) struggle just to get the attention of a&r personnel's interest - assuming they could get a meeting set up at the record company in the first place? If the artist was extremely fortunate, some of the talent scouts, and a&r, would come out and see them perform live. Even then, getting a record deal was still for many, a remote possibility. Many were left "hanging by a thread" while the labels, wanting to hear ever more material, seemed "paralyzed" from making a decision - leaving the artists and their managers in a state of "limbo" while they waited for an answer. It's also a fair point to make that not every artist has great or even good product - okay some being pretty appalling!
Here's the point: the contrast from the old physical approach of trying to get a record deal - to how the new digital labels are bending over backwards to secure your business and your product - (just look at some of the dazzling web sites). Just register, log in submit your product, and you're in! And with that comes danger: faced with so many outlets on the super highway, or should I say, the world's largest global jungle, you have to be more vigilant than ever. The truth is much, if not all the services offered by a record label, can now be done by yourself or, say, your manager. Simply by setting up your own digital label you can then easily distribute, market, outsource and sub license at will. In the last year alone, we have seen changes in the music industry many of the so called experts and strategists would not even have contemplated in the last decade. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, in what is going to be available to artists, songwriters, producers and anyone else with ambition and drive in the next five years alone.
Dennis R. Sinnott is a music consultant and author with 41 years experience in the entertainment industry. Formerly Head Of Copyright at EMI Music Group in London, and managing director of Christel Music Ltd, he is now a full time consultant offering help and advice to Songwriters, Recording Artists and Professional Organizations in the Music Industry. You can visit his site, at: http://www.christelmusic.com/
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