Any signed bands here?

Worthless Willie · October 09, 2012, 04:28:37 PM

Quote from: rayinreverse on October 09, 2012, 04:10:38 PM
I would love for you to find a good booking agent that will work with you, without some sort of label support.

This. It's hard to find a good booking agent with a label.

rayinreverse · October 09, 2012, 04:37:26 PM

Quote from: Worthless Willie on October 09, 2012, 04:28:37 PM
Quote from: rayinreverse on October 09, 2012, 04:10:38 PM
I would love for you to find a good booking agent that will work with you, without some sort of label support.

This. It's hard to find a good booking agent with a label.

Exactly!
Go to somebody that books tours, and ask them to book for you. They'll tell you to get fucked.
check out Tone Deaf Touring's site. Every band they book for is on a label.

RacerX · October 09, 2012, 04:43:27 PM

Just an idea: If you kill ALL the labels, Tonedeaf Touring will have no choice but to book your band's tour.

Hemisaurus · October 09, 2012, 04:56:30 PM

I'm wondering, is this an age related thing?

I'm much more DIY oriented, now people are saying you can't do it yourself, you need to have a label, copyright lawyer, manager and booking agent? This with the advent of the internet?

I guess it also depends on what you want out of your music.

RacerX · October 09, 2012, 05:24:54 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on October 09, 2012, 04:56:30 PM
I'm much more DIY oriented, now people are saying you can't do it yourself, you need to have a label, copyright lawyer, manager and booking agent? This with the advent of the internet?

I don't see anyone making the claim that you NEED all of that.

It just makes it a lot easier if you have it.

clockwork green · October 09, 2012, 09:02:47 PM

Does Nate at Nanotear only book signed bands? I've known some unsigned bands that have booked tours with folks here in the Bay Area. We've had people willing to book a tour for us and we've self-released a record (we've had far too many issues to get a tour done). Maybe it's a location thing. I know there are a lot of Midwest guys here but aside from 3-4 folks here, I have no idea where anyone is from.

Worthless Willie · October 09, 2012, 09:39:21 PM

Right outside Austin, Texas.

Andrew Blakk · October 10, 2012, 11:42:47 AM

I guess the bottom line is that if you're not good enough no one will work with you. That's when you use a distribution deal. That's what we did. On a swedish label with quite good distribution.

And for us there has been a obvious line. Before the first record and after... But perhaps mostly how people, bands, fans, gigplaces look at you. All of a sudden there's a little bit more interest in what you do...

Booking managers at least nowerdays reply and mags does reviews. Some cool gigs get booked. But still, no flow... Always struggling to get things working.You can't get a way from the DIY when it comes to promotion, booking etc. So the bottom line once again. If people doesn't think your good enough no one will work with you. (Which doesn't mean that I agree with that at all. No way, I'm proud of the music.)

We're never gonna be a big touring band what so ever. We can't and we won't. But we have a foot in, cause we can... But it also means loosing money lol.

Hemisaurus · October 10, 2012, 12:14:44 PM

Hang on you're saying your not good enough

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one mans meat is another mans poison, and all that.

clockwork green · October 10, 2012, 01:41:58 PM

This is one of the best discussions we've had on here in awhile...legit disagreement and unique insights.

I talked to a friend last night and while his band is on metal blade, their label did nothing for their tour and the guy they used also books any band willing to pay him.

My thing is if I ever sign with someone it's because I just don't want to deal with certain hassles and I'm willing to take a hit for that. Ideally I'd love to control every aspect of the band but I don't begrudge anyone for getting help. The great thing about today is that you don't have the same limits that bands used to have. You can make your own life.

Andrew Blakk · October 10, 2012, 02:58:04 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on October 10, 2012, 12:14:44 PM
Hang on you're saying your not good enough

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one mans meat is another mans poison, and all that.

No that's not really what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that when it comes to record deals someone elses opinion is the one that counts. Or perhaps knowing the right people, somtimes just pure luck...
Regardless what you think yourself or the effort you put in.

rayinreverse · October 10, 2012, 03:07:18 PM

I dont think record labels are pointless. I think its pointless to expend extra energy to try and get on one though. The great thing about this day and age, is you can write your own destiny. Spend the time writing good songs, and making a product that you feel good about asking someone to shell out hard earned money for. I think Koi said it best with "how many labels have you turned down?" And if a label ever approaches you, thats when you decide what to do about the label situation. Until then, I think it should be the farthest thing away from your goals.

Hemisaurus · October 10, 2012, 03:15:52 PM

So they're not pointless, but they're also not worth pursuing.

So the advice is, wait for it to fall into your lap. That's how I've seen it too, it's been luck, fluke, being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right friend of a friend. I don't know of anyone who got their deal by sending in a demo tape, but my mind is also selective and rusty.

RacerX · October 10, 2012, 03:54:45 PM

Quote from: rayinreverse on October 10, 2012, 03:07:18 PM
I dont think chicks are pointless. I think its pointless to expend extra energy to try and get on one though. The great thing about this day and age, is you can write your own destiny. Spend the time looking good, and making yourself into a product that you feel good about asking some chick to shell out hard earned money for. I think Koi said it best with "how many chicks have you turned down?" And if a chick ever approaches you, thats when you decide what to do about the chick situation. Until then, I think it should be the farthest thing away from your goals.

Totally logical, dude.

skydogdiesel · October 10, 2012, 05:44:23 PM

we do have distribution with a swedish label too and we DO think our music is good-but it's constantly getting better and better. we dont doubt that we'll find a deal at some point down the road, but we're just hoping for an "extra set of hands" (the label) to help push us along. any exposure is good exposure and labels can do that for your band. for example, my bass player used to play in a band that signed with psychedoomelic records in europe and they got signed just because the singer mailed them a cd. it wasnt rocket science and he didnt wait for an oppurtunity-he took one-and got lucky. And the band was good at what they did.

at the same time, the web makes it really to get your shit out there. when we put our new ep up on reverbnation last year, it was being downloaded a week later, reviewed by music bloggers and was circulating amongst the few stoner rock websites that exist over the world. it was awesome to see that!!! i didnt make it available for download but somehow it ended up in spain, russia, greece and more....

Mr. Foxen · October 10, 2012, 07:20:30 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on October 10, 2012, 03:15:52 PM
So they're not pointless, but they're also not worth pursuing.

So the advice is, wait for it to fall into your lap. That's how I've seen it too, it's been luck, fluke, being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right friend of a friend. I don't know of anyone who got their deal by sending in a demo tape, but my mind is also selective and rusty.

So far from our mind that we already broke up and started new projects when the label approached us. no band to sign, so just licenced the music and put it out.

Pundan · October 11, 2012, 01:06:33 AM

My band is signed with an indie label. When I say "signed" I don't mean as in we have a legally binding contract that requires lawyers. We've struck a deal with this label, they press 500 copies of our CD and in return we get 100 of them for free. We still own the music and if they'd want to press more than the 400 copies they already have they'd have to go through us. This is the normal deal these days from what I understand, you get some type of percentage of how many records they press. But be aware that if you go this deal you still would have to do a lot yourself (we've done the mixing and mastering ourselves on all our stuff). However I'd say this is a great deal to start off, you get someone who's mutually interested in your success.

As for promotion and so forth, I posted my band's demo on Reddit and it gave 1200 plays in just one day - you don't have to rely on big labels to get you listeners.

AgentofOblivion · October 11, 2012, 11:14:11 AM

Quote from: Pundan on October 11, 2012, 01:06:33 AM

As for promotion and so forth, I posted my band's demo on Reddit and it gave 1200 plays in just one day - you don't have to rely on big labels to get you listeners.

I'm not familiar with Reddit. Can you elaborate? Isn't that a website for voting up/down news articles/memes...etc?

Pundan · October 11, 2012, 11:44:29 PM

Quote from: AgentofOblivion on October 11, 2012, 11:14:11 AM
Quote from: Pundan on October 11, 2012, 01:06:33 AM

As for promotion and so forth, I posted my band's demo on Reddit and it gave 1200 plays in just one day - you don't have to rely on big labels to get you listeners.

I'm not familiar with Reddit. Can you elaborate? Isn't that a website for voting up/down news articles/memes...etc?

Absolutely, and they have a section on the site called /r/metal (http://www.reddit.com/r/metal). I'm not saying Reddit is the only place, but spreading your music on the internet is usually something good.