Releasing Tracks

PaulBrewer

Just wondering....

How many of you have had tracks released 'officially'

How did you fare with -

Sales

Radio Play

Getting Positive Reviews


Has the experience been of benefit to your musical aspirations?

What if anything would you have done differently?

What was the 'MusicBiz's' reaction to your endeavors- i.e. is it easier to get gigs etc. because of it?


It seems to me that with the tide of Industry Change it should be a lot easier to get stuff out there - just wondering is it any easier to get 'results' - whatever that may be!

studiorat

GEtting Results alright..
It easy to get it out there, sales in Ireland seem barely worth it though. Not very much on royalties either. Gigging seems to be what pay's these days.

Radio play can be very much about who's doing your PR, three or four grand spent there.

Record companies are not spending money like they used to. €700 or €800 for a demo at most. I suppose you can't blame them since they are getting reefed out of it by the downloading business. In Ireland licencing seems to be the way it's going.

As for Dance Music the world and his mother seem to be releasing stuff on 'Internet labels", from the couple I've seen the deal doesn't seem to be particularly good.

RealEstateKing

Ive had two albums released with a German label. Reviews were extremely positive across the board, Rolling Stone, Uncut etc, released all over Europe, UK etc, even got some songs on a well known complitation with famous people like Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, but it never translated into any serious "quit the day job" type cash I gotta say.

Working on a 3rd now, but I dont expect to make money. I remember the record label guy actually saying to us: "If this was 1995 we'd all be millionaires, but now..."

Downloading means that Robbie Williams goes from 10 million a year to 2 million a year. But a dude like me goes from making enough to quit my day job, to hardly any.

At times I think of going into a creative field that still pays cold hard cash: Artist friends of mine can charge up to 10 grand for a painting, if they can find some middle-class person to pay for it after an exhibition. Sell a few like that in a year, and you can actually live as an artist. As a musician? I dunno, wedding bands?

Neurojazz

I think i was the last lucky bastard in the music industry to actually sell music before mp3 turned up in force...

I had one release through Positiva/EMI which was good - got a few gigs etc... Income eventually came from it and the tracks was re-released on most download portals and still sells well. Because one track that was made did pretty well the income overall is fair (500 euros a month or so, just from mp3)

Reviews were either a press pack sent out, forums in that genre of material or some radio pre-recorded affairs.

The music has it's own momentum luckily!, but all the other stuff helps.

It's actually being re-released this year for it's decade dust off - so that will interesting to watch the stats.

As the people involed are webmasters also, we track the site visitor data and use the web to advertise when near releases which help hugely to pipe people who might be interested in your act to pay a visit to the homesite.. i personally learned about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to understand the best way to advertise and capture the area/genre websites so that adverts didn't appear where they shouldn't... this helps as people need to know what's happening.

Profile, profile, profile.

The only problem with a sucessful release is that people expect the same thing afterwards 90% of the time - which can cause problems when releasing material.... people will pick through and take music that sounds the same and not new productions.

Hopefully there may be some activity for gigs (the things that pay well), but i'm gonna be spending my time planning other things as the music industry has sort of gone *pop* - actually POP WILL EAT ITSELF remember them?

jtsuited

studiorat wrote: »

As for Dance Music the world and his mother seem to be releasing stuff on 'Internet labels", from the couple I've seen the deal doesn't seem to be particularly good.

i presume your talking about netlabels which are a total waste of time. In dance music the established labels that release on itunes, beatport, juno, and on 12" act as a sort of sh1t-filter, and are your only chance of ever getting yourself played by big dj's and hence shift copies.

Oddly enough the dance music world seems to have adapted to the internet download thing quite easily.
You can easily sell a 1000 copies on beatport if you're on a decent label. It's a completely different business model from rock/pop music.

the 'netlabel' thing is completely different. Netlabels tend to be used by people who can't get their stuff signed to real labels. Controversial to say maybe, but from what i've seen and heard from the netlabels, i think it's the case.

jtsuited

Neurojazz wrote: »

actually POP WILL EAT ITSELF remember them?

indeed i do. I remember i was about 10 and they were on the late late show and wrecked the stage.

The lead singer was Clint Mansell - the guy who has done the music for Requiem for a dream, the fountain, wind chill etc.
In fact that ryder cup ad that was on last year had that famous piece of his in it.

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

I actually POP WILL EAT ITSELF remember them?

I did <snip> them in ' 91 I think!

PaulBrewer

Also, are you guys members of RAAP ?

Neurojazz

Never heard of RAAP - but i don't do the admin side of the label - i just write / master the music...

It has been very easy for us to go online... i can understand the problems with proper band music (as being a guitarist for like 20 years now) - i really miss jamming and pub gigs but moved on due to life happening!

I'd like to know where the best place to get a post/advertise for wexford area for getting some sort of music/club going... we used to do this a lot in the UK (in remote cutoff towns, away from cities) and used to be a good outlet for local youth and oldies used to show up and show us demon licks etc... It all came to an end when a local guitar techer started to threaten people with physical violence if we carried on giving out hints and tips for free... I can sort of understand his slant, but at the same time we were making something happen within the community and that fu*ked me off.

Call me altruistic in that way, but isn't that the concept of a community?

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

Never heard of RAAP -

http://www.raap.ie/

Free Money!!

Neurojazz

Ahhh... i get everything outside UK collected by PAMRA... one agency that does it all i beleive...

Sunn

jtsuited wrote: »

i presume your talking about netlabels which are a total waste of time. In dance music the established labels that release on itunes, beatport, juno, and on 12" act as a sort of sh1t-filter, and are your only chance of ever getting yourself played by big dj's and hence shift copies.

Oddly enough the dance music world seems to have adapted to the internet download thing quite easily.
You can easily sell a 1000 copies on beatport if you're on a decent label. It's a completely different business model from rock/pop music.

the 'netlabel' thing is completely different. Netlabels tend to be used by people who can't get their stuff signed to real labels. Controversial to say maybe, but from what i've seen and heard from the netlabels, i think it's the case.

To me that that looks as if your saying that a track (or more so dance floor orientated electronic music) cannot be taken seriously if people either don't have to pay for it or Dj X is playing it.

It can't be any further from the truth. The quality of music released by a netlabel can rival that of an established label. I find it better in some cases as its more about the music itself rather than it been richie hawtins top track for march.

Selling hundreds of copies on beatport or itunes doesn't equate to much money anyway, beatport and itunes and most other sites instantly take 50% of sales while the distributor take another 10-20% leaving the label and you splitting that 50/50 (less in some cases).

Most music aimed at dancefloors is released to boost a Dj's profile, hence why nearly all of the "top" Dj's work with established producers/engineers to do a track while they stick their name on the front.

jtsuited

Sunn wrote: »

The quality of music released by a netlabel can rival that of an established label.

the important word there is 'can'. I've yet to hear a netlabel track even come close.

seannash

jtsuited wrote: »

the important word there is 'can'. I've yet to hear a netlabel track even come close.

have to agree,why would people want to release on netlabels if there music was so good a respected dance music label would release it.
wed all love to quit our day jobs and do music full time(well those who dont do it already) so why would they turn down the chance?
ive had some singles and remixes released and hopefully more to come.not seen a penny yet as the contract states that id get payed every six months so it wont be til july before i know about sales(not expecting much to be honest)
was at a seminar in miami this year and alot of the bigger djs on the panel are saying that they dont get paid for remixes anymore,they just swap remixes amongst each other.you done one for me,i do one for you type of thing.
neuro jazz i got one of your remixes after you had the BIG track.it was arakiss- the spice.i liked it alot,was one of the first tracks i bought on tracid traxx.first of many from that label:D

Sunn

jtsuited wrote: »

the important word there is 'can'. I've yet to hear a netlabel track even come close.

Well, thats more subjective. It could be argued that most tracks on beatport, itunes or juno are tired and predictable. Its rife throughout all genres that are oriented towards 'clubbing'.

My original point was arguing that a track cannot be taken seriously because its not on a label on which you need to pay. Which of course isn't true.

have to agree,why would people want to release on netlabels if there music was so good a respected dance music label would release it.

Amazingly enough there are artists who like giving their music away for free and do music just for the sake of doing music.

Most big labels are started by Dj's to release their own material and take most of the profit and generally release stuff their producer friends make (minus, ovum).

wed all love to quit our day jobs and do music full time(well those who dont do it already) so why would they turn down the chance?

The chances of 'making it' are just as remote on a label on beatport etc as the market is over saturated and I know alot of artists who have done some pretty big things and are working day jobs just to get by. The ones that are lucky enough live extremely modestly.

Making music purely to be signed is part of the reason dance music itself evolves so slowly. The next big sound is heard and the same producers that were doing progressive house in 2000 are doing 'minimal' in 2004.

PaulBrewer

It's interesting that it's mostly dancey/remix stuff being talked about - I've not heard of Beatport etc, nor had I heard the term 'Netlable' before.

Is this the only area of activity re Boards members?

PaulBrewer

seannash wrote: »

neuro jazz i got one of your remixes after you had the BIG track.

BIG TRACK? What is it? Do tell ....

jtsuited

PaulBrewer wrote: »

It's interesting that it's mostly dancey/remix stuff being talked about - I've not heard of Beatport etc, nor had I heard the term 'Netlable' before.

I think it's understandable when you consider there's at least three producers here that have international releases out/coming out.

Neurojazz was in Binary Finary, who had the mega-hit 1998(a term not used lightly here).
Sean Nash had a release on DJ Pierre's label (dj pierre was in phuture. phuture had a track called 'acid tracks' in 1986. that's where acid house got it's name - allegedly).
I had a remix on Sean's release, and have a few releases coming up over the next few months on two U.S labels, one French, and one Irish label.

The dance music model seems to be thriving in this internet age. I'd hate to be a rock band trying to get international releases nowadays.
Dance labels, while not making huge money by any means, certainly make enough money (a good few do anyway) to keep on releasing music they like.

There's not a huge amount of money for producers there, but get a few big-enough tracks out on beatport and you'll certainly get a bit of cash.
Not even to mention the ridiculous money you'll make from Dj sets, because you're an established name.

PaulBrewer

jtsuited wrote: »

There's not a huge amount of money for producers there, but get a few big-enough tracks out on beatport and you'll certainly get a bit of cash.
Not even to mention the ridiculous money you'll make from Dj sets, because you're an established name.

The 'Rock/Pop' model seems to be moving in the same direction insofar as Major/Established Artists are giving tracks/albums away in order to promote the tour.

Is that what recorded music is 'for' these days? An ad for the show?

Neurojazz

The spice was done by someone i sacked from binary - nothing to do with me

A bit of karma came back from that coz i met the DJ who had organised the deal (some german DJ i forget the name of at the moment...ah Kai Tracid!) and filled him in when we met at a gig in poland...

There's only '1998' and the 'lost tracks' on itunes etc... anything else is pretty much a ligger/bootleg/un-official where people just cash in on the momentum of someone elses work (as is the norm)

So little music was made because people wanted another '1998'..., and that wasn't gonna happen - not for a loooooonnnnnnngggggggg time - as anyone who actually heard it and enjoyed it would know - the merchants didn't hear that though for the sounds of the cash registers

jtsuited

PaulBrewer wrote: »

The 'Rock/Pop' model seems to be moving in the same direction insofar as Major/Established Artists are giving tracks/albums away in order to promote the tour.

Is that what recorded music is 'for' these days? An ad for the show?

well, the biggest downfall of pop/rock music is the fact that the vast majority of the market has been lost to illegal downloading.
i can't see how a big pop/rock label could realistically predict making a profit out of any new small band no matter how good they are. And unfortunately that great small band won't get big unless there is a lot of money behind them. This money traditionally came from the labels.
So it's a catch 22. No (read hardly any) rock/pop labels giving money to new bands, and hence no small bands really get a chance to make it big.

However the big labels will occassionally put their money behind lowest common denominator pop-rock/pop-punk/etc. (there are a few obvious examples but i don't want to start an argument about it), and everyone will strive to water down their music in order to be as broad as possible.

Now this is nothing new to an extent, but it's a mega saturated market and ultimately everyone loses (including the labels).

I think the major labels haven't realised they are trying to sell music to people who have relatively little interest in music (the general audience who listen to daytime fm radio all day).

jtsuited

oh and by the way, y'all might want to consider this if you have aspirations of being mega-platinum selling producer/engineers/whatever:

Ringtones have generated more money in the past two years than single sales (by an absolute mile i might add). So when you're mixing your next attempt at a hit, make sure you do a phone friendly version!!!

seannash

jtsuited wrote: »

Sean Nash had a release on DJ Pierre's label (dj pierre was in phuture. phuture had a track called 'acid tracks' in 1986. that's where acid house got it's name - allegedly).
I had a remix on Sean's release, and have a few releases coming up over the next few months on two U.S labels, one French, and one Irish label.

savage remix i might add :D

TelePaul

RealEstateKing wrote: »

Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal

No way! I love Taj!

11811

Actually hoping to release something next month, going to be a DIY effort it seems but might be able to report back on progress as the whole thing goes along....
going in to studio to finish the tracks on Monday,so hopefully be ready in a month for release.
any advice or pointers would be great!

Binary Finary 1998 - CHOON! hehe brings me back to my trance djing days:eek:

jimi_t

jtsuited wrote: »

well, the biggest downfall of pop/rock music is the fact that the vast majority of the market has been lost to illegal downloading.
i can't see how a big pop/rock label could realistically predict making a profit out of any new small band no matter how good they are.

Thing is, the industry has been on a continuous up - as well as profits - in the last decade. This seems to be a common misconception - they might be losing millions in projected revenue, but they're currently making more money now than ever.

RealEstateKing

Still gets played when me and my old codger friends get together to get mashed and relive the glory days.

Neurojazz

Glad people still enjoy it!

frobisher

Ask this again by the end of the year and I'll let you know how it goes!

af_thefragile

I plan to have my album released by the end of this year too...
So wish me luck and it should all go well!

PaulBrewer

Good Work Folks