Well, well, well, so you're feeling brave, like a maverick. Congratulations. You have finally come to your senses. You have finally figured out that you will make more money as an artist selling 50,000 records on your own record label, than selling 500,000 units as an artist signed to a major record label. As stated in "Recording Royalties", an artist will receive between 12 percent and 14 percent of the suggested retail prices of CD's and about 10 percent of the royalty rate on CD's as compensation for their efforts of recording and album after all expenses have been met. In the LOVE opinion, these percentages are too low and you should explore the possibility of signing with an independent label.

Their Rationale:
Record companies blame low royalty rates on the non-success of nine out of every ten records released. That's their percent success rate, one that would be poor performance by any standard in any other industry. Take General Motors, for instance. If they designed and manufactured ten new cars, and only one out of those ten new designs sold and was profitable, they would be out of business.

Our Rationale:
Record companies these days take Artists at basically no risk. Yet it seems only fair to them that they enjoy the lion's share of the profits. The operative word here is seems. If the artist's time, energy and emotions mattered to labels, they wouldn't feel that they were the only ones taking risks. But in all fairness, the record company, by signing an artist, is in a sense giving the artist an unsecured loan, or are they?  These days, for the most part, Artists are coming to labels with completed product. Both artist and record labels devote their time, energy and resources to record, promote, market, and sell music. The label has money as their most valuable resource, the artist brings talent and creativity, and in today's world a finished product as a most valuable contribution. Which is more valuable? We say artist, because artist can exist without record companies, but record companies need something to sell. that something is the artist's product.  So by the old standards who needs a label?

Most record deals are negotiated so that the artist gets 12 to 14 percent of the profits and the record company gets the remaining 88 percent. The 12 percent an artist receives is just not representative of the amount of effort an artist puts into recording an album. It becomes blatantly apparent when compared to the 88 percent of sales the record company gets to keep. This is all the more reason to sign with an independent, small label. We think it's safe to assume that most of us feel we have the same one in ten chance of success as a major record label working on our own and receiving all the money.

While money is major concern when putting together an album, it is not the be all end all. Money problems can be overcome. It use to be, the only thing a major label had over an independent is if a record is a hit, they can sell more because of their distribution network. The flip side of that is even if that same record were released on a major label sold more you should still make less if your released in on an independent label. With all things being equal, you'll make more money from the sales of your record released on an independent label than you would if that shame record were to be released on a label other than yours. That is, of course unless your record is a flop. And in that case, no one make any money.

With the tools available today there are many new avenues to market your own CD.  Where it use to take distribution to make anything happen today the Artist is finding success on the Internet in the area of distribution.  At Love Label records we assist artists in doing just that.

Helping you make "The Ultimate Statement".

Promotional and marketing artwork will include posters, postcards, hats, T-shirts, bags, cassette inserts, CD inserts, etc. These items can be costly and it would be wise to shop around for a printer and supplier that can provide these items at a reasonable a printer and supplier that can provide these items at a reasonable price. For instance, most CD's require inserts that contain information about that project. In some cases it will be to your advantage to have a printer supply these items instead of the  CD manufacturer. You can make money for yourself taking charge of these items.

Promoting Your Product
The most effective way of promoting your product is to have your record play on the radio. In order for you to do that you will need to hire an independent promotion specialist to solicit and gain airplay for your music. Independent promoters are persons who use influences and relationships they have with radio programmers to secure airplay for records they are hired to work on. Radio programmers are the persons hired to decide what music will be played on the stations they work for Every radio station has one.

Independent record promoters are usually hired on a record by record basis, but a number of the more powerful ones have retainer relationships with the larger record companies. Independent promotion is expensive, costing $50,000 for a national independent promotional campaign for R&B material. The stakes are higher for pop music, therefore the numbers go up dramatically. These are also more pop stations, which also helps drive up the cost up dramatically. There are also more pop stations, which also helps drive up the cost of independent pop promotion. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is not an unrealistic figure for national pop promotion.

While these prices may be out of your range. negotiating a deal for independent promotion in just your local area may prove affordable by comparison. this is assuming independent promoters will accept assignments from local bands. Our guess is that where there is demand there will be market. Gaining access to independent record promoters could prove challenging it itself. One way of finding them is to call local radio stations and inquire about who independent promoters are that frequent your area. Most stations should be happy to give you a few names. Understand that record promoters are simply a go-between for your independent label and radio programmers. Independent promoters usually have pre-established relationships with radio stations. They can make the difference between a hit or not, Independent promotion has a quirky reputation, but is a necessity any way you look at the picture. Now there is the Internet which with a mind set of hard work you can take care of the marketing with your own street team.

All the major labels have their own distribution network. Distribution done by major labels is called major distribution. One of the main differences between a major label and an independent label is that the majors have their own distribution. Independent labels rely upon either independent distributors or are distributed by a major record label. Major labels have more money to spend on advertising and marketing and this can be of value to you if your product is being distributed though their network. The downside to working with major distributors is that they will want a larger percentage of sales than an independent distributor. Major distributors also have a short attention span in terms of how long they will keep a record in their distribution chain if the record is not selling. Three months is the time period a record has to prove itself for a major label. If it does not perform well within that time it's pretty much dead in the water. Independent distributors have no affiliation with major record labels. They have fewer artists to distribute and are more likely to stick with a record for a longer period of time. You can find these distributors via the Internet.

The newest and most exciting way to promote and sell your product is through on-line services.  Once you have a following it si easy for them to download.  There are millions for web users and that will need to become your market. There are services that charge a monthly fee, or a per download fee. In today's world they have proven to be an indispensable source of information regarding the record and entertainment industries. To learn more about on-line services ask us.

The Internet
The Internet is made up of many different networks spread over the entire planet. Internet on-line services it has the most promise for those looking to market and sell their products. In many cases there is no charge directly to the user but in order to navigate this vast resource effectively you need to devote time and energy. Contact 310 Web Design Studio for details about how you could best build the tools you need to promote your talent via the web. In order to market and sell your products on the Internet you should have a commercial account and should also develop a web site, which is essentially your address and store front on the Internet.

For any other information feel free to email us. Thank you.

About | Shop With the Stars | Travis Nelson | Love Label Records | Songwriter's Corner | Featured Artist