On that note, Creative Directors and agencies are facing budget cutbacks that would make a public librarian shudder. In fact, most of the people I worked with back in 2007 had to jump ship to other companies as their budgets sank with the stock market. Musicians like me that run small, professional-grade studios are a Godsend for these folks. In the past, small budget meant weak sound, but there is enough power in an iMac with Garageband to create truly compelling albums. Imagine what a guy like me can do with his own independent studio.

My Name is Matthew Ebel, and I Produce Audio

That’s right, I make more music than you can find here or at Matthew Ebel dot net. I’ve done behind-the-scenes work for Coca-Cola, Porter Novelli, Bigelow Tea, and more. If you think I only write about robots and ninjas, believe me there’s a lot more going on here. Check out some of the stuff I’ve done for business clients in the past:

The Down & Up Theme for the Depression is Real Coalition

Life is Ikea for an internal pitch by Porter Novelli (This was my first attempt at something like this. Ah, those were the days.)

There is plenty more where that came from at matthewebel.com/worksforhire – If you’re intrigued at all, I’ve got a Demo Reel here:
Producer Highlights

Why This Works For Me… AND Creative Directors

Why pay a big studio tens of thousands of dollars for a 30-second clip that could be done just as well by an independent artist at half the cost? It’s a match made in heaven, the only real difficulty is making that match in the first place.

I’ve been able to establish myself with these companies as a guy who can get the work done in record time, but I’d love to hear how other musicians and producers pair up with agencies. Whether you’re the Creative Director or the musician, what’s worked for you?

Photo by Psyberartist

To put it simply, you’ll tell a couple of friends about something you really love, but you’ll tell the whole world about something that annoys you.

It’s like playing rap music in a country bar… If all you see is a crowd of wallets, you’re going to get beer bottles thrown at you. Before you start rapping, those people are just bystanders. Once you’ve given them a dose of something they don’t want, they become a negative PR force actively working against you.

This is the reason I do not sign people up for my email list that didn’t ask for it. I’ll send invites- ONCE -but if they don’t want my emails, I don’t want to send to them. My blacklist is almost as big as my mailing list. Why? Because each person I send an email to is remotely interested in my music. If they’re not, the last thing I want to do is annoy them!

Lately I’ve been receiving auto-DM invites to a music site via Twitter. One invite? Sure. Identical invites from many different people with no way to opt-out? Now I’m never going to sign up for that service. In fact, I’m writing a blog post about it because they’ve ticked me off. I am now a negative PR force working against them, all because they wouldn’t let me opt out.

The lesson? Don’t play rap to a country crowd. No audience is worse than the wrong audience.

Recently an indie label added me to their mailing list without my permission (Stupid #1). Their mailings don’t have any unsubscribe link (Stupid #2), forcing me to reply and ask to be taken off their list. This amount of stupid is typical, baseline Stupid, usually doesn’t bother me. Unfortunately, they had advanced Stupid.

Then the label argues with me via email (Stupid #3) and tells me that “If you don’t want someone sending you an email without asking, then you should not post your email on the web.” As though they were sending me an email as opposed to just adding me to a list. Not feeling sufficiently stupid yet, they then have the balls to throw this at me:

I would be glad to take you off the list, but I don’t know how to do that without taking up several hours of my time, which is rather short, since I run two for-profit businesses and a non-profit organization.
(Stupid #4)

Another savvy marketer has added me to a list and is CC-ing everyone on the list- meaning I can see all their addresses and they can see mine (Stupid #5).

This morning I found the last straw. Yet another music marketing company had been sending me emails about bands since I produce the High Orbit Podcast. Initially they added me to their mailing list without permission, but I’ll overlook that for now. They typically sent me one or two emails a month.

Then there were more.

Fast forward to the present and I’m getting damn near daily emails from these people (Stupid #6). Yesterday it got so bad they sent me two emails in one day about the same damn band (Stupid #7). This is getting ridiculous, so I asked to be taken off the list (oh yeah, no unsubscribe link again. Back to stupid #2).

Once again, I’m getting argued with via email (Stupid #3 again):

You know Matthew, I’ve had you up on my MySpace top friends for awile (sic) now trying to toss you a bone.

Apparantly (sic) your (sic) not as smart as you look.

So not only can they not spell (Stupid #8) but they think that insulting me will somehow make me change my mind about supporting their bands (Stupids #9-47)?

To all of you stricken with The Stupid lately… Grab a clue from the artists you represent: If people don’t want your emails, you don’t want to send to them. If you’re a rock band, you don’t want to force your way onstage at a country bar. All you’re going to do is turn someone who was ambivalent into someone who actively works against you.

Here’s my take on the future of the music business.

The Artist¹ As A Corporation

Any artist who wants to earn a living had better treat themselves like a business. Like any functioning business, there are different departments covered by different team members:

• Production: Someone has to BE the product… in this case, the artist and her recordings. Often a professional Producer will make a project happen, such as an album.
• Marketing: Someone has to get the artist into the venues and get people to come pay money to watch her. Someone also has to sell physical merchandise like CD’s and shirts.
• Management: Once the business becomes more than the artist can handle, a trusted friend or professional takes over so the artist can focus on music. Beyond that, there are managers for specific tours, specific shows, and other business ventures where a specialist is needed.

This is just a simplified version of an artist’s business, but the idea is that an artist has departments and divisions like any other business. If you ever wondered why some artists fail, even those on major labels, it’s because they often don’t see themselves as a CEO.

The Record Label As A Corporation

So did you see the record label somewhere in that model? No? It’s in there, kind of. The traditional record label is a marketing department. Their sole purpose (ostensibly) is to sell albums. That’s it. They don’t “make” an artist, they just make round things that play music. Of course, keeping the artist famous helps to sell those round things, but their sole purpose is to sell albums.

At their essence, record labels really only serve a few functions:

• Marketing: They connect a stack of round plastic with a group of buyers. The entire concept of “artist development” usually means “making an artist’s product fit into a pre-existing marketing scheme”.²
• Publicity: Again, it’s all about selling product. The more you see the artist in Rolling Stone, your local paper, or even America’s Most Wanted, the more likely you are to buy the round thing with their music on it.
• Rolodex: The label’s prestige and reputation can open doors to possibilities that the artist alone couldn’t muster. However, as I’ve said enough already, it’s all about selling the product. If the connection won’t move round plastic, it won’t happen.
• Bankroll: A major label has money, giving them the power to buy studio time, advertising, and huge amounts of swag to send to promoters and program directors.

So What Went Wrong³?

Major Labels used to function as development houses, and their name stood for a level of quality. An artist, once signed to a label, was treated like an investment that would grow, mature, and eventually generate sufficient business on their name alone.

Like the corporate world, though, the artists became as disposable as any other laborer. For every artist that couldn’t recoup costs, a thousand more stood in line behind them to try. Or after easily recouping their costs on a lucky artist’s smash-hit debut, the label can shelve the less-impressive sophomore album⁴ and move on to the next act.

That arrangement might even be acceptable… if the artist made a dime off of any of their debut album sales. For much better, much more experienced details on how that plays out, read The Problem With Music by Steve Albini⁵. This article, however, is about the new makeup of a musician’s team.

Expanding The Company

Without a big, bloated label on their back, the questions are whether an artist can command their own corporate divisions and whether everyone can earn money at the end of the day. If an artist has a CEO mentality, chances are good she’ll be able to handle team management adequately enough. Here’s who I think the team will be:

• Booking Agent: They get the artist on the stage. They make 10-15% of whatever venue fee the artist receives.
• Promotion: A promoter will often be the one advertising locally and handling ticket sales, taking a percentage of the tickets and merchandise.
• Management: This one’s a little vague as the manager can be a band member (oddly enough, usually the drummer) or some professional agent that knows the business world well enough. I’m not sure what percentage of what assets the manager would take since it depends on their level of involvement.
• Attorney: A record label has a team of them on call 24/7, but an artist can just hire one as needed.
• Publicist: Radio/Podcast servicing, getting reviews and write-ups in prominent publications, etc. There may be a lot of overlap between publicity and marketing, so the marketer may shoulder both burdens, but this kind of work is typically done on a fee-per-campaign basis.
• Marketer: This is what replaces the record label. Unfortunately, there are only two ways I can see a marketer making a fair paycheck from an artist-
  1. Taking a percentage on a project-by-project basis. Like a PR campaign, they would try to sell a particular product (an album, for example) and keep a percentage of the returns that product (maybe 10-15% of revenue for album sales, track downloads, etc.)
  2. An exclusive arrangement with a percentage of ALL revenue. An artist agrees to make a marketer (or agency) their exclusive mouthpiece in exchange for best efforts⁶ to sell ALL things that artist represents- CD’s, digital sales, shirts, tickets, speaking engagements, you name it. Anything the marketer can sell, they get a percentage of.

The concept of a Marketing Agent or Agency may not be new, but it certainly seems to be in the independent music scene. I would personally like to see someone with real connections and experience take on the mantle of “music marketer” and try this model out. I’ve already seen “digital music marketing” done for indie artists, but I have yet to encounter a real savvy marketing agent or agency that believes in a music product enough to run with it.

Still, if this model can work, then what used to be a “label” simply becomes part of an artist’s identity. And, honestly, isn’t that how music should be sold? As a product of the person actually making it?

Footnotes

1 – For the sake of clarity, I’m going to use “artist” synonymously with “band” since the concept is the same.
2 – Actual development might take place, granted, but for the most part the label acts more like a matchmaker between existing demographic groups and an artist’s sound. I can’t fault them for that, either, but it tends to homogenize a lot of the music on their label.
3 – I know, I know, I could write a thousand entries to answer that question. Why don’t you write some for yourself in the comments here?
4 – An assumption that’s somewhat grounded in reality- Often an artist’s debut album is the result of years of writing, performing, and refining. The sophomore album is usually put out a mere 12 to 18 months later after the record label’s kept them busy all year with radio interviews and opening for <insert current flave-of-the-month band name> to help promote their album. And then the A&R guys wonder why the writing isn’t nearly as good.
5 – Steve Albini is an independent and corporate rock record producer most widely known for having produced Nirvana’s In Utero. Read his article or look up Steve Albini on Wikipedia for more info.
6 – Yes, I know “best efforts” is a legal term. That’s why I used it. Are you tired of these footnotes yet?

[tags]Matthew Ebel, Piano Rock, record labels, Steve Albini, marketing, music, music business[/tags]