4 Key Factors To Successful Record Label Management

The recipe for a successful record label, no matter how big or how small, involves many ingredients. Too many to mention here but if you had to narrow it down to the most crucial points you will find the following key ingredients to successful record label management.

Having Talented Music Artists On The Roster,The Resources Available For CD Production,The Power To Distrubte Music Straight Into The Consumers Hands,The Ability And Resources To Successfully Promote Music Artists.

1. Recording Artists

Number one on the list to running a succesful record label is to have a talented roster of music artists. This not only involves finding extremely talented artists with commercial potential but also establishing contracts between the two, where the two party's involved are both happy with their part of the agreement, thus resulting in an extremely harmonious and rewarding relationship.

The contract between artist and label should cover topics such as album production fees and spending budgets, recoupable revenue from sales of tickets, albums and merchandise etc, distribution of music royalties as well as possession of publishing rights and profits.

2. CD Manufacturing

It is usually the role of the record label to take care of the manufacturing of records and Compact Discs. If you are planning on setting up a record label you should be certain to possess the resources available to create and manufacture your artists' music. After all this is an important part of making money for your label. If you are only a small-sized label you can find CD manufacturing plants which will meet the needs of smaller sized record labels and even offer pressing discounts that come with product packaging and art work at affordable rates. Now a days this whole process can be avoided due to the popularity of digital downloads.

3. CD Distribution

Distribution will get a label's music straight into the palms of consumers. Distribution is paramount to earnings for any recording label. With regard to physical goods like CD albums, you must get them straight into retail stores and then directly into the hands of shoppers. With regard to downloadable music, you should make your products there for web sites (such as apple iTunes) which will sell the songs on-line. Direct selling is one other money-making path for a music label in selling their music.

4. Artist Promotion

Promotion is yet another crucial component to generating product sales. The music label utilizes mass media outlets such as music publications, web sites, radio campaigns, live performance tours and private appearances. You should understand the actual demographics for your niche and after that market appropriately. A solid marketing and advertising campaign will enhance ticket and record sales.

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Craig S.

http://www.world-of-songwriting.com/

Professional Songwriter & Musician.

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Eight Factors to Consider When Choosing a Venue For An Album Release Party

The completion of an album, whether your first or tenth, is an amazing accomplishment. You have put an enormous amount of time and effort into making the music just perfect. You have practiced over and over and recorded it numerous times. The producer and background artists have played their magic and it is done. It deserves a great launch!

An album release party is a special time to tell your story. The story about the band, the inspiration, the ideas, how you came up with the theme, who helped you plan and produce it, what it means to you... you get it. The party is meant to establish a personal and emotional connection with the audience and to do that they need to know you and your group and the meaning the album holds for all of you. One key element of an album release party is the venue. You have to pick just the right place.

Venues vary in a number of ways. Some have the feeling of a Walmart; you know, overhead florescent lights, plain colors, no texture. Others have small rooms or rooms broken up by lots of pillars that interfere with seeing the stage. Still others have a much more vibrant feel.

Match the Music! The venue also should match the type of music or at least not clash. A heavy metal album is poorly served by having the party in the community room of a church! Of course, some venues can be made to match virtually any genre, but that may cost lots in term of decorating and lighting costs. So, if the venue is a plain Jane type place, plan for appropriate decorations, but do not over do it!

Parking: The venue needs to have plenty of free parking, easy to get to and did I say free parking? Nothing is a bigger turn off to potential attendees than having to drive around a block numerous times. Make sure the parking is close by, free and in abundant supply... and did I say free?

Lighting is a key element to any party and an album release party is no different. Dis the overhead lights for up-lights, pin spots and floods. Use color! Consider using lights that beat with the music. Have someone really plan out the layout of the lights. If lights are available at the venue, you can save a bunch of money on rental fees!

Food: You should have at least finger food at an album release party. Some venues require you to use their caterer. This may be OK, but it may not be affordable. Look at the requirements prior to booking any venue.

Day of week/Time of day: Most venues charge more for Friday and Saturday nights as compared to weekdays. If it is not within your budget, look at other days! Also, some venues have a discounted rate for a very late night on Saturday, especially if they can book an afternoon wedding and have the late evening free. Inquire about this and see what you can work out!

Alcohol: Alcohol is almost a mandate for an album release party. But, an open bar at your expense is not something you are going to be satisfied with! It will be very expensive and some people will abuse it! Consider a token system if you are wishing to offer free alcohol. Hand out the tokens and after that the people can purchase drinks on their own. Another alternative is to just offer beer or wine. These two choices are considerably less expensive than a full bar and can add just the touch! As a side note: Most venues have alcohol licenses. In most states, that license comes along with a requirement that all alcohol be purchased from the venue; NO BYOB is allowed. This may not be the wish of the venue, but it is the law so please do not ask for the venue to knowingly break the law, they may loose their license!

Size: The whole idea of an album release party is to invite tons of people. You want several hundred if you can. And obviously you need a venue to hold that many. Most local bands will find a venue that can hold 200-350 a perfect space. But, many venues are not capable of handling 300 plus people. Make sure you do your homework and ask around about how many people will turn out. Talk to your agent, talk to other bands and plan accordingly.

Cost: Of course, venues would love to charge you for the use of the space. And of course, you would love to get it for free. Well, maybe you two can come together and make a deal! If you expect 200 people, on a weekday, the venue can probably make enough on the alcohol sales to make it worthwhile if it is not booked. But, remember that the venue has some significant costs associated with setting up and cleaning up. They may also have the costs of security and an attendant. I would suggest you offer a minimum bar tab with you making up the difference to ensure they are not left in a negative zone. The event may also want to make sure you pay a clean up fee... some concerts tend to get a bit wild!

As a co-owner of an event venue in Birmingham AL that hosts album release parties, I must suggest one thing...Negotiate! But be flexible. The venue will typically know what they can offer and still be profitable and you are sure to get the best venue you can possibly have for your album release!

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What Factors Could Affect Your First Album Sales?

There are two pieces of information that could possibly help us to determine album sales. They are:

a) Historical figures - what was the level of sales in the previous years.

b) Top sales figures - how many copies did the leading albums record.

The above allows us to determine a realistic projection upon which we can confidently create a plan. The answer to the question can be found if we discuss the factors that should determine the cost of the first album:

Potential Sales - How many albums are you hoping to sell? How can this be known? You can know this by taking orders from the record stores you know and then projecting across the number of shops within the targeted territory.

So if your focus group thinks you can sell 50 copies and there are 1,000 similar stores that you can sell to directly, then potentially you can sell 50,000 copies. (The Billboards count shows there are limits to album sales.) What is a focus group? -A focus group is a group of close friends who work within the industry that can give you unbiased opinions, guidance, and criticism about your recordings. The object of their critique is to provide improvements that will make your recordings sellable and more appealing to your niche. Your focus group must include DJ's, record stores and some promoters who are knowledgeable about your niche.

Number of fans - In October 2007 Radiohead released the acclaimed album that created the music business model. The website is said to have had 1.2million visits and less than half of the visitors paying $6 for the album. The average is just over $2 for each visit.

Unless you are like Radiohead, visits to your website will be a lot less popular with visitors so the only way around this is to ensure you have a process for acquiring more fans into your database. It is especially important that when you play gigs you need to generate as many names, emails, and phone numbers of those who come to tell you how great you are. People lives are so hectic that you cannot rely on them chasing you to find out more about you and your gigs or tracks available. You need to build better relationships with the fans to ensure future sales.

Costs involved -Using the Thriller album concept, the label made $650million (if we assume the label made $5 for every album) Remember this is an astronomical hit record. Only a few will even sell a million copies (10 out of 150,000 in the USA).

The point to consider is that if all you're hoping to sell is 1000 albums at ?5, the total you hope to make from record sales only is ?5,000 then your recording costs would be between ?500 - ?1,000 maximum. This conservative estimate gives you a small room for profit. If on the other hand you can sell 5,000 units at ?5 then the total income you can expect is ?25,000 on record sale and your costs should be between ?2500 - ?5000. This is a rough estimate and you can project other expected sales along the same lines.

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