Hey again, William!  (Thanks so much for being a member!)

This is definitely a touchy topic.. but I think there’s a couple angles to look at it from:

1. Playing live + Gigging is a different world than producing
2. Record labels are only in it for the money
3. Make music because you enjoy it, and learn to build your on-going audience

I’m sure those 3 points alone can get your mind thinking.

Point 1:

If you want to play live, you need a crowd to play for.  You also need enough ticket sales for the venue to sell out.  This is the music business side of things.

You can see old bands touring all the time, with shows sold out!

You can also see new bands on tour for the first time, and struggling bad.

It’s all about the audience, and enjoying what you’re doing.

Point 2:

A record label can help you tons in terms of branding, marketing, and promotion.. (and of course funding).

But there’s many strings attached, so you should always read the fine-print closely for any type of such agreement.

The record label will only sign someone they think they can make money with.

A big restriction of a record label, because they are focused on making money, and recovering any costs they paid out to the signed artist, is that they may restrict your creativity, and force you to create the music THEY want you to make.

Point 3:

This is what I’ve always done.

It’s fun, enjoyable, and people who like your music can’t wait for your next release!

That’s what I’ve done for my beat tapes and albums.

There’s no pressure.

The only issue here is figuring out how to make money as a producer.

 

What do you think?

A lot of things to think about here.