A new label......

I'm leaving my job in the next couple of months, and one of the things I'm going to do with the payoff is set up a new record label! Obviously Factory has had a major influence on my life, so I won't be making the same mistakes they did of signing shite :)

What I am going to do though is suggest that anyone who would be interested in having their band release records through this new label, please let me know. The basic deal will be that once we've agreed on the songs to be released, you arrange and pay for the production of the music, I pay for the marketing, publicity and distribution, and the sales revenue is split 50/50 (subject to my business plan advising otherwise, but you get the general gist).

The club nights will start around the same time.......

Any investors or interested parties, let me know!

Not yet, still thinking about that. Have got a shortlist, I'm going to get some market research done. "Viking Records" had crossed my mind, but I am thinking more electro/dance music than blood axes and long hair, which is what the name conjures up to most!

Good Luck! You gonna let us lot loose on the record sleeves?

We shall see......depends how much Bill costs!

ally wrote: Will the artists own all their own work - the label owning nothing - and have the freedom to fuck off?

If so, I recommend a rethink

Works two ways - maybe I'm seeing this as a feeder club rather than an attempt to dominate the world or to be arty. As far as I am concerned, and I'm totally honest about this, the idea is to get a couple of records out that will be popular in clubs etc and on the radio, and get them selling, then when label name is established and the bigger fish come around, they can buy it off me! It's not about putting out records that no other label would touch, or some of the pretentious wank that surrounded Factory. No tribute acts either! Besides that, Wilson's basic principle still stands as far as I am concerned, this would be a stepping stone for all parties concerned.

El Jarvo wrote:

oldmonkey wrote: I am thinking more electro/dance music

electro/dance?

Just make sure you don't end up with something cutting, crucial or wicked in the title!

;) knew you'd have me on that one! I started writing electronic, then thought I ought to say that I was looking at a club floor-filler for the first release, and then ended up sounding American!

I don't know.... Are you pretentious enough to start an independent record label? Do you have a PHILOSOPHY?

His Holiness, The Pope wrote: I don't know.... Are you pretentious enough to start an independent record label? Do you have a PHILOSOPHY?

Pretentious? No. Philosophical? Yes. My philosophy is to make personal wealth, and to get richer by assisting bands and producers to get richer.

oldmonkey wrote:

His Holiness, The Pope wrote: I don't know.... Are you pretentious enough to start an independent record label? Do you have a PHILOSOPHY?

Pretentious? No. Philosophical? Yes. My philosophy is to make personal wealth, and to get richer by assisting bands and producers to get richer.

That just might be crazy enough to work.

We're interested in your label and associated idea and philosophies.

We're currently writing and recording our debut, The Present Lover due (hopefully) in late Spring/early Summer.

If you'd like, we have one demo available online and a few remixes of other artists that I've done on our page for now.

Please feel free to check us out as your earliest convenience :)

I'll be watching this space in the meantime!

http://www.myspace.com/evarial http://www.evarial.com

OT:

Sorry about these edited/deleted second posts. Everytime I reply to something, it never shows up! When I try back a later time - same thing.

When I when to re-respond, it finally shows up. Twice!

Spotnick wrote: That's something WenOrder has also been trying to do for a while now.

Obviously, the 4 Community related CDs are the first and only CDs released yet, I think he had plans with some other tribute albums as well as the Glasnost and Labster CDs.

(If Sophia can resurface of course!)

Though obviously, this is purely virtual, so it's not a real "label" per se...

At first I wanted to release Community on "Digital Republic Communications", which is the name I registered for it, but we switched to Retroforward...

It the internet days, the concept of "territory" is complicated, unless you distribute your products in record stores obviously, so the concept of "sister labels" is a bit off.

She will be back in the next Athens Olimpic Games with Elias :D

We're interested in your label and associated idea and philosophies.

We're currently writing and recording our debut, The Present Lover due (hopefully) in late Spring/early Summer.

If you'd like, we have one demo available online and a few remixes of other artists that I've done on our page for now.

Please feel free to check us out as your earliest convenience :)

I'll be watching this space in the meantime!

http://www.myspace.com/evarial http://www.evarial.com

Hey!

I am interested in your label as well!

I write electro dance music.

Ive got a 15 track album out in April. I made it all by myself!

www.myspace.com/ZacheryAllanStarkey

The songs I have up have no vocals, as Ive not finished my vocals yet.

Steve wrote: Good Luck! You gonna let us lot loose on the record sleeves?

I'll second that

Would love to record an EP of original material of my two-piece band. Though I'm sure uni will get in the way. :/

I play distorted bass along with a drummer, we normally jam out with a few songs already written [sans vocals/lyrics though].

Sounds like a great idea. I'd definitley submit some material. Should have some tracks by June/Julyish. I guess you'll be based out of England. Maybe Wenorder and Spotnick can take care of North American distridution via a sister label.

Good luck Tim when your new venture starts, hope it goes well. It's a bloody big gamble - how did ya charm the misses! Have you become bore/disallusioned with compootas/spreadsheets etc.. Or was it something you had on the back-burner even when you were teaching

All the best mate. Always nice to see someone striking out on their own.

A wee note of caution though. The club/dance label set up has changed monumentally over the last few years due to the advent of official download sites. Young producers can now finish of their tracks and bang them straight up onto the likes of traxsource.com, beatport.com etc and get a 50/50 deal (worth 1USD per download)with the site. These sites are popular with DJ's and producers alike and contain loads of ways for individual artists to promote there work within the site. I've got a few mates doing just that and making enough to never have to get involved with conventional record labels.

The only "labels" making any money in the club scene are those that have been around for years and cultivated a good reputation. The label's name is an indicator of the style and quality of the tracks they release and as such helps boost the sale of whatever artists make up their roster. My mate Stevie Sole's label is a good example of this (http://www.solemusic.co.uk, we built his website incidentally). The label's been on the go for over 10 years now and the "Sole" imprint on it's own is enough to garauntee reasonable sales of whatever they put out (mostly US influenced House)

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to stick to your common or garden "band" who still require promotion via the conventioanl route of radio, press, constant gigging etc. The young bedroom laptop producers can get their tracks to market quicker than any label can and start making an earner from them as soon as they've twiddled their final knob.

I purchase tracks from Beatport but I also look at other artists on the same labels. So it's still useful to have a label as it is some indication of what to expect interms of product/sound.

Vik D - Serotonin wrote: I purchase tracks from Beatport but I also look at other artists on the same labels. So it's still useful to have a label as it is some indication of what to expect interms of product/sound.

Is that not what I just said?

If you're an established label with an established sound' like Solemusic, then you still have a place within this specific sector. If you're a brand new label with no established sound nad no track record then producers and DJs alike aren't gonna be any more interested in your product than they are of the tune that some guy has posted up without any label backing.

GlasVegas wrote:

Vik D - Serotonin wrote: I purchase tracks from Beatport but I also look at other artists on the same labels. So it's still useful to have a label as it is some indication of what to expect interms of product/sound.

Is that not what I just said?

If you're an established label with an established sound' like Solemusic, then you still have a place within this specific sector. If you're a brand new label with no established sound nad no track record then producers and DJs alike aren't gonna be any more interested in your product than they are of the tune that some guy has posted up without any label backing.

Here we go... What I mean is I find it easier to find artists/producers that I like on Beatport under a label rather that randomly listening to tracks. Really doesn't matter how new or old the label is. I really think Electronic acts can still be more successful under a 'label' as opposed to going it alone...they're just easier for the public to discover that way. Don't really think the days of electronic labels are over or numbered. Maybe think of a label as more of a marketing co-op. You never know though maybe Glas Vegas is right.

Vik D - Serotonin wrote:

GlasVegas wrote:

Vik D - Serotonin wrote: I purchase tracks from Beatport but I also look at other artists on the same labels. So it's still useful to have a label as it is some indication of what to expect interms of product/sound.

Is that not what I just said?

If you're an established label with an established sound' like Solemusic, then you still have a place within this specific sector. If you're a brand new label with no established sound nad no track record then producers and DJs alike aren't gonna be any more interested in your product than they are of the tune that some guy has posted up without any label backing.

Here we go... What I mean is I find it easier to find artists/producers that I like on Beatport under a label rather that randomly listening to tracks. Really doesn't matter how new or old the label is. I really think Electronic acts can still be more successful under a 'label' as opposed to going it alone...they're just easier for the public to discover that way. Don't really think the days of electronic labels are over or numbered. Maybe think of a label as more of a marketing co-op. You never know though maybe Glas Vegas is right.

So by that logic if I uploaded a track to beatport and stuck an icon next to my name saying "Glasvegas Recordings" you'd be more likely to give it a try? I'll pass that info onto my mates...boost your sales by pretending to be on a label!

GlasVegas wrote:

Vik D - Serotonin wrote:

GlasVegas wrote:

Vik D - Serotonin wrote: I purchase tracks from Beatport but I also look at other artists on the same labels. So it's still useful to have a label as it is some indication of what to expect interms of product/sound.

Is that not what I just said?

If you're an established label with an established sound' like Solemusic, then you still have a place within this specific sector. If you're a brand new label with no established sound nad no track record then producers and DJs alike aren't gonna be any more interested in your product than they are of the tune that some guy has posted up without any label backing.

Here we go... What I mean is I find it easier to find artists/producers that I like on Beatport under a label rather that randomly listening to tracks. Really doesn't matter how new or old the label is. I really think Electronic acts can still be more successful under a 'label' as opposed to going it alone...they're just easier for the public to discover that way. Don't really think the days of electronic labels are over or numbered. Maybe think of a label as more of a marketing co-op. You never know though maybe Glas Vegas is right.

So by that logic if I uploaded a track to beatport and stuck an icon next to my name saying "Glasvegas Recordings" you'd be more likely to give it a try? I'll pass that info onto my mates...boost your sales by pretending to be on a label!

Well if you make an icon saying "Glasvegas Recordings" and if I think it's good and there are 3 of your buddys who are also on "Glasvegas Recordings" I'll definitley give them a chance faster that I would randomly go through other peoples songs.

This is too funny to stop. You'll have pulled out all your when I'm done. But I'd say try going it alone if you would rather... it's pretty unlikely that I'd come across your track this way.

Best of luck Tim, electro/dance is something I'm interested in so keep us posted with your developments mate. Cheers APK!

oldmonkey wrote:

El Jarvo wrote:

oldmonkey wrote: I am thinking more electro/dance music

electro/dance?

Just make sure you don't end up with something cutting, crucial or wicked in the title!

;) knew you'd have me on that one! I started writing electronic, then thought I ought to say that I was looking at a club floor-filler for the first release, and then ended up sounding American!

Club- Floor filler.. The Rough Trade Label sort. Or Vinyl for the DJ $Public trade. Think of excellent Mu- zak as being something you'd want to travel with. Take completely out of context that might sell right across the board. From your Bars to X- Country road trips. Cheers, or Superb Lucky Future work or.. wishes.

Best wishes Tim- It's a big financial risk, but I hope it all goes well!