Starting a record label 101

[Lost to the Void]

Decent PR can set you back a grand for a couple of months

[Alert]

In Finland we have this saying "Artisti maksaa", originating from a comedy show. Pretty much means that in music business the artist ends up paying for everything.

[Hades]

C'mon dudes. It's not that hard to get noticed. All you have to do is dress like a transvestite.

I always wonder what you did to get noticed !
I know you have a secret alias for your distorted kick drum tracks, but didn't know about the dressing up.
good idea ! I make a very good transvestite, you know !

[Mono-xID]

You must confuse me with someone else. I don't get noticed at all.

[Hades]

You must confuse me with someone else. I don't get noticed at all.

a big sig always helps !!

just give me a shout whenever you need some sexy panties and a nice wig, you sexy stud !

[Jake]

So, you've got some artists/releases lined up into a little schedule. Label name, plan, ethos ETC ETC ETC....

How do you go about approaching a distributor?

**At this Stage now.............

[Alume]

Hi Jake,

I am no expert but I emagine you get your music, artwork and plan ready on your laptop, go there and show them? (providing a logical story with the files ofcourse)

I wouldn't send a mail. Going there in person is better and dont be pushy, start the conversation slowly and ask what they can do for you instead of telling them what you want from them.

And be nautal. Thats all I can think of at this moment.

[winston]

So, you've got some artists/releases lined up into a little schedule. Label name, plan, ethos ETC ETC ETC....

How do you go about approaching a distributor?

**At this Stage now.............

call them up and talk to them. they'll be able to make a good judgement of you over the telephone to see if you know what you are talking about, or if you are just a guy with an idea. i'm sure they get lots of inquiries that don't come to fruition.

what is your plan (briefly)? vinyl, digital or both? how many vinyl units? when are you planning on getting first one pressed?

[Alume]

So I had a small question. When would it be a good start to start promotion and stuff if your planning a release in say september?

I know previews would be about a month before the release and promo's about 1.5 month before release right?

And what about facebook? Is it usefull to trow it online already to collect some likes or better to open de fb say beginning of the summer?

[Mattias]

It depends a little how you want to do it;

As for a start up label I would go with selected / personal promos and buzzing quite early, possibly one and a half or two month ahead as you suggested. It's extra good if you have the means to get copies one month ahead of release date to send vinyls to a few selected people. If a well established name charts it on RA ahead of time it can create some interest and hype etc.

The main promo campaign could be 2-3 weeks before release date really depending on your options. It's probably better to be 1 month ahead of time if you decide to use larger scale PR / promo businesses like Pullproxy. But for Labelworx and similar 2 weeks should be plenty. Also remember to not have too huge promo lists as potential customers and collectors can get fewer. This is a classic mistake that many labels make and continues to do. Personal digi promos have it's benefits these days especially if you have some connection with some people in the scene that could be interested of your music. Otherwise unpersonalized promo campaign works initially and you can go more personal later on.

You could link the early feedbacks that you have when you create the previews.

[Lost to the Void]

I think we are all at this stage promotion weary. It seems that this is all techno has become, people setting up new labels and promoting them relentlessly.

Standard methods don't work, so any new or different way of promoting would be a benefit to you.

[Alume]

Yeah it was my plan to just put previews a month in advance and publish the facebook page and stuff this month. However, I will wait with the facebook page until the beginning of the summer.

But it seems there are quite a few of unwritten rules. The distributors only think money as well, I cant blame them ofcourse.

I not going to pay for any promotion from 3rd parties. I'll handle it myself.

I was thinking of sending some cards or somthing via oldschoolmail instead of promo's, everybody loves mail. It will inclued a dl link for bandcamp if artists want the dough. 1.5 month before release.

I'll also hand out some of those cards on parties, without dllink ofcourse. maybe 2-3 months in advance.

I hope this will be enough, it was kind of bugging me so that is why I came to subsekt for help. I believe the info is in good hands here anyways. Its not a really big secret any more.

Getting the home adresses of the artist will be the tricky part. The element of surprise will be lost. I'm thinking of doing 10 digi files promo's. If they want the vinyl they can buy it like everybody else. I might change my mind, but that is the way I feel right now.

[Lost to the Void]

I just finishing mastering a vinyl album for a guy who has a few releases under his belt and wants to "make it" (by, you guessed it, starting his own label), and he wanted some advice on marketing.

I referred him to the Bill Drummond model, making a statement that can`t be ignored, rather than facebook, resident advisor etc, which we are all numb to now, it`s like background noise.
And we were talking about various things, getting 3D printed models representing his name for the promo mail outs, or sending a box full of dust also containing the music (makes sense if you know who he is) to the right places. He`s looking at doing some guerilla marketing, which is I think what needs to be done now.

I literally master more *insert label name here* 001`s than anything else for vinyl, and you never see a number 002.
The market is saturated again, so you have to be really clever with your marketing.
Most 001`s seem to fit 2 models.

1. Original track by artist who has started the vanity with 2 or 3 remixes by low-mid level guys.
2. 1 or 2 original tracks by artist and then 1 remix by a big name.

Neither of these set a label apart or say anything about the new label other than "we are the same as the same as the same"
I really don`t think this works as a marketing ploy.

Better I think, to just put music you genuinely can stand behind on it and then some very interesting promotion/marketing.

[Wiu]

Do people honestly fall for all that marketing shit though? I still only really buy vinyl and so many releases seem to be fucking hand stamped, limited to *** copies, screen printed sleeve etc in some desperate attempt to get me to part with my money. Then you listen to the actual sound clips, and so many are just.....meh. Nothing especially bad. But nothing exactly exciting that make me want to spend the £7+ and buy the thing. Some are just fucking dreadful (imo) and amazes me that they've actually been put out at all let alone on vinyl. This is across all genres too, not just Techno.

I guess I'm in a minority now where I just like to listen to record shops new releases each week and go from there. Find a decent record. Buy it. Check out the artists back catalogue. Check out the labels back catalogue. Maybe setup an alert for any new releases for the artist/label. Repeat the process. Fucking Facebook alerts, Soundcloud spamming just annoy me and really don't make me wish to check out what they're trying to sell.

Geeezzz, reading back over that, I really have become a miserable old cunt stuck in his ways! The thought of having to seek out new music digitally really does scare me though just due to the huge amount that's puked out each and every week.

[Lost to the Void]

Hand stamped and limited edition is the worst of all..
our new release LIMITED TO ONLY 300 copies

so, the same as every other release coming out then. 300 is the standard now.

Well, these days it`s all about the hype, and to get the right channels, and blogs, interested, requires some interesting marketing. If it is done with genuine artistry, then I see no problem with it, if it is done unintelligently (like said, hand stamped, silk screen, typical grey scale post punk style artwork etc) then yeah it`s cock soup.

These are difficult times, the impatience of the yoot means that they send out a demo, get rejected once and decide to start their own labels.
The sea of noise for vinyl is the same as for digital now.

So you really have to make the extra effort.
Look at Rrose, that poor bastard had to put on a wig and lippy before people took notice of him, he was making techno for years under another name, and no one really cared.

[Mattias]

The best is to to find another way to get it all done for sure. Easier said then done though.
Not very motivating I know sorry!

[Mattias]

When I and two others started up a little anonymity project few years ago we made a bunch of flyers with a bandcamp free download code on and had one of the members hand it out in physical mailboxes (some were also posted) around Berlin and Dresden to people he knew about or were acquaintance with (without revealing his identity). The Bandcamp URL had some small info on it along with a previews of the first record.

[Lost to the Void]

It`s not impossible, it just requires a little bit of thinking.

My philosophy is, you get out what you put in.
If you maintain creative effort throughout, then it should pay off.

No point putting loads of effort into making/procuring great original music and then going through all the effort of getting vinyl made, but cheaping out on the artwork or the promotion.

Distributers really don`t do that much, they expect you to do everything now more than ever, they pretty much sit on the phone/email and send out release lists to stores and want the moon on a stick in return. And whilst you can`t put the moon on a stick, you can provide an approximation.

[Mattias]

Yeah I totally agree. I think it's pretty common that people put the money on the record and as little as possible on the rest.

[Lost to the Void]

It`s a shame, but you just can`t get very far by that model any more.