Labels

[O Drones]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. That we'll get literally nothing from it cash wise. Cos of all the "after costs" shit. But, we always release at a super low price anyway so we make hardly anything as it is. Merch and live would be ours to keep. Apart from any merch the label makes, which would be 50/50 "after costs".

I suppose what they'd be bringing to the table that we can't/can't be fucked to do ourselves is putting the releases on iTunes/Spotify etc, making the CDs (yeah I hate CDs too), sending out promo shit to people we wouldn't (we don't send any), giving us some extra exposure (it's a "Shoegaze" label so folks that like the label would probably dig us and they have some other cool bands), maybe we'd be more likely to have other labels' interest for future releases because we've released with them,

[goroth]

Maybe... ??

My current band just used an aggregator to get our stuff on Spotify. Aggregator? I think that's what it is. I can check what we used.

I'd only do it if you can have a really good chat to them and see that they can offer you increased exposure, with a tangible plan for doing it. Otherwise you're locked into something that is just stealing your profits and hindering you from signing a cooler deal in the future. But yeah, I'm biased as we didn't get anything out of our deal.

[Eivind August]

I think it's pretty easy to get it up on Spotify by yourselves. Sending out promo stuff is also something you could do yourselves. But of course, if that's something you don't want to do, and giving 50 % to some label seems reasonable to you, then you could go for it. Depends on the level of exposure you want, and that they could give you.

[jrmy]

I'm not a huge fan of either iTunes or Spotify as services for indie bands, personally. The percentage iTunes takes for you to be utterly lost in a sea of music is stupid, never mind the yearly maintenance fees. And Spotify is convenient for end users, but doesn't really do shit for the bands.

My one question is whether the label would be able to help you get better shows, raise publicity for those shows, and/or put out merch. That's tactical stuff that can make a real difference to a gigging band.

[O Drones]

It's not a massive label, so the exposure wouldn't be massive, but decent in gaze circles. Yeah I'm sure we could set up online streaming shit ourselves, just laziness tbh

Merch, I'm unsure what they'd make/not make, shows, they definitely wouldn't be of too much use I wouldn't imagine because they're an American label, although we'd maybe get some decent shows over here on the back of people knowing we're on their label

[Doctor X]

you've already got online streaming with the bandcamp, with the bonus that you dont have to be signed up like with spotify

[Muff_Diver]

Virtually every label I've worked with does this exact deal, but my bands were never really popular enough or had enough money to get bigger without the label's help.
If you guys are continually getting noticed with an upward trend and you have the means and knowledge for pressing, distributing, and promoting, then there isn't a compelling reason to sign.
However.
The connections and image you get from a label can be incredibly beneficial. Label people know industry people, and by being on the label, you earn some sort of legitimacy since a notable someone is willing to make a substantial investment in you/your work. All the bands I've been in were not good, but we kept playing shows and people kept wanting to put out our records and because of it festivals, agents, other bands etc started to take us seriously. Ive never made any personal money from playing music, but labels have allowed me to continually make music and not have to worry about the cost and stress of pressing, promoting, and distributing.
They might be "stealing" your profits, but are you really making that much money now?
Also, if they're an American label, then you have a great connection for American touring.

If you can do the total diy thing, then by all means do it and don't look back. But I couldn't imagine self releasing a record and having it sell more or be noticed more than if a reputable label put it out.

I'm also a drummer.

[D.o.S.]

That last line tho

[ThurberMingus]

I had a similar deal in the last "serious" band I was in. They were supposed to send us a check every other month or something for our cut of "record sales", but I don't think we ever saw a cent of that. They offered us some pretty good deals on shirt pressing and stuff like that, but we got better deals from our friends who screen print, so we always did that. I think they sent us some CDs not sell on tour for free, but I can't really remember, I wasn't a contact man, I would just pitch in whenever we needed gas or merch.

This happened after we spent a lot of time and money in a decent studio, so they didn't comp us for that either. I remember talk of some shows being set up with like, $300 guarantees, but it always fell through when the bands we were supposed to tour with flaked out. We booked everything ourselves and usually made a max of $100 gas money and whatever merch we sold.

It was weird because there were other bands on the label doing big tours, but I can't actually think of one real benefit from being signed. Other than a couple of blog posts that no one cared about.

[Muff_Diver]

Were we in the same band, Mingus?

[retinal orbita]

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/n ... ic-in-full

I would never tell anyone what to do, but my advice to you is to read this excellent article before making any decisions.

[aen]

That's a similar deal to what I offerred The Ronald Raygun and The Heart Pills, except i left digital out of the equation. If I were record-labeling today i would probably stipulate.
But, if it looks liek the label can actually do things for you, I might negotiate a little further and go for it. If it's going to be your band's name on a web page along side some other bands, then they can go fuck themselves.

I would certainly talk to the other bands and see if that label earns their cut.

[O Drones]

The thing is, we earn basically nothing from our shit right now online. We kept our price at £1 for the entire album and everything else is free, because we just want people to listen to it. The option to pay more is there, and some kind folks do, but we never expect anyone to do so, so when they do it's all

Most of the money we've made from doing this has been from either playing shows or selling merch. In the contract we've been offered we keep all the money from both of those things. We lose half of our 'music' sales, which right now equates to about half of not very much So we literally don't have much to lose. If they want to make a load of CDs, speak to some blogs, put our shit on iTunes and Spotify, send out some promo, great, it's certainly more effort and time than I'm willing to put into all that tedious shit, that's sorta where I'm at right now.

Albini rules, of course.

[goroth]

Were we in the same band, Mingus?

Pretty sure I was in that band too.

[OddKnowledge]

whatever you decide to do, i wish you all the best! your band is awesome!