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-- On the issue of labels...

On the issue of labels...

So I have seen talk of a "tranceaddict label" on TA before and I have been mulling this idea over in my head.

I posted a sort of short outline in a song I posted a few weeks ago, but I would like to expand on this again.

This again is a rough outline, which I will hopefully fill out in the next week or so.

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The purpose for this label will be to provide a launch pad for up and coming artists in numerous genres of music, or established artists that are looking for a change from the traditional record label.

The main difference between the goal of this label and others is the communal nature of the organization.

Basically, the label will work on the idea that shared profits from artists up to a certain point will be invested back into promotion for all the artists in the label. Beyond that point all profits are kept by the artist.

For example: The label sets a dollar amount for a period of time (lets say a month). For that month if an artist makes less than the dollar amount, again for example lets say $1000USD, then all that money goes back to the label and is added to the pool used for promotion of artists. All artists would be equally promoted from this pool. Say that the next month the same artist that made less than $1000 has now made $1500 (that promotion from the pool payed off!) then they make a profit of $500 and the rest ($1000) goes back to the pool. A dollar amount or a percentage based system still needs to be decided on, as there are benefits to both.

I feel that this method would encourage artists to work at creating material that will increase their income (as to make it above the "required" point) while allowing for creativity and experimentation. Artists that want to do something that they feel might not be as "profitable" but still worthwhile and entertaining would benefit by the promotion of their works from the pool of money collected by other artists. Because promotion is the major detractor to artists that do not find themselves in more mainstream contexts the added promotion will only go to serve in increasing their fan-base which in the end helps the label and helps them.

If the amount of money coming in meets a point that allows a dividend of the pool to then be sent out to those under the pool point (or the difference there of) then that would be great as well.

Of course, the problem is that too big a pool dilutes the promotion abilities of that pool. So A&R would still have to be handled by somewhat more traditional methods. Of course with most artists now being able to post to the internet their demos and works the job is a lot easier.

I think that a method of active A&R recruitment and passive artists submissions filtered by a rotating group of already signed artists would not only be beneficial to the prospective new artist but to the label in minimizing the staff needed to handle filtering. Allowing people related the genre of music that new artists to filter based on what they know would allow a trained ear to not only filter what would most likely be a massive quantity of work, most of which would probably be sub-par, but to provide recommendations to those that could use it how to improve their music or what they should aim towards. This method may need possibly multiple levels of filtering as to decrease the work load of people.

This is the gist of what I have in my head right now, and I hope to expand on it later and also would love to have feed back from members of TA.

I know a lot of these ideas are pretty far-fetched and probably hard to implement but this is something I really think could work if enough people care about it.

sounds like a fun idea.

What type of promotion would be above what people can do on their own now that we have tunecore, and snocap type stuff?

I also think the artist should be alowed to sign any future tracks with a different label if they wish, since it seems like this label would be for up and comming producers. It would be nice to have the freedom to grow beyond at some point. just a thought

Re: Re: On the issue of labels...

quote:

Originally posted by ******** Talk to the person who owns the name tranceaddict.

I don't think I would want the Tranceaddict name, its too limiting in terms of content. I am seeing this extend into all genres of music eventually.

quote:

Originally posted by ******** an artistic cooperative.... good idea in concept but I'd rather run it this way. Everyone owns shares in the corporation. To join the lable you need to be accepted and sold the shares. People can still be on the lable but don't get to vote on how funds are used, and need to pay the fee, or determine a reasonable deal for costs of merchanidising and distributing the track. Share holders would get proceeds if the company made money - every quarter. Artists themselves would get profits based on the particular conditions of the release, ex. an artist who approaches for release on a basis of a 20-20 share of profits would get 20% of profits. Funds gained by the company could be reinvested in what the stock holders felt was needed. Everyone would have access to promotions, especially if it was tax deductable and taxes were owed, but share holders would vote on how the promotions funds were used. Likewise everyone ont the lable could start up their own companies and lables, or service providers such as art work, to gain as many tax write offs as possible, and means to gain grants. Shareholders vote on whether the track is released or not. Shareholders can sell their shares. That is my idea.

It's a good idea, but to me it runs counter to what I want to achieve. Your idea seems to rely on artist fronting money initialy, which seems dangerous and limiting to a lot of artists.

Still, good ideas.

quote:

Originally posted by ******** The 1000$ margin is sort of useful; however these are the issues 1. What if someone never makes more than 1000$/month, do they sit and watch the earners get all the funds? 2. Who handles promotions funds? 3. Who decides how promotions funds are used? 4. Other than the name tranceaddict what does this lable have to offer over getting signed to another outlet? 5. Who will handle release quality of this lable? Of course there is no reason why your forumula wouldn't work.

To answer numerically.

1. If an artist makes under 1000$ a month then their amount goes back into promotion which should ultimately help them in going past the 1000$. This could work differently with a percentage based system instead of a fixed price point, but that begins to add issues of favoritism which is something I want to try and avoid.

2. This is something that would need more detailed discussion on, but it would most likely be someone/a group hired to do so. A process would need to be put in place for the division of funds in an equal manner. Maybe even letting the artists choose in which direction they feel that their share would go to.

3. See above.

4. Not even having the TA name, the draw would be that artists that are found to have something to offer will get a potentially large amount of promotional expenses even if their initial draw is limited. Of course a low-pressure, nurturing atmosphere would also be a draw.

5. This also deals with the above in a way. It would most likely be handled in the same process A&R is handled. By peer review, but an ultimate decision based on perhaps a permanent group above the peer review groups. Keeping the pool of artists to a group that the rest feels has potential is important as well, that is to prevent dilution of promotion funds. Artists may be let go due to lack of growth, etc, but again this process requires much more thought.

Re: sounds like a fun idea.

quote:

Originally posted by AudioGuru What type of promotion would be above what people can do on their own now that we have tunecore, and snocap type stuff? I also think the artist should be alowed to sign any future tracks with a different label if they wish, since it seems like this label would be for up and comming producers. It would be nice to have the freedom to grow beyond at some point. just a thought

Well, the draw, like I said in the above post would be that they would have access to potentially more funds than they have available. For example, services like Last.FM offer promotional tie ins to their services. They are fairly cheap but if they are a member of the label they could potentially have that cost covered and have access to more options than they would otherwise and also a sustained campaign.

On the issue of future growth for the artist, that is exactly what I am seeing. Ownership of copyright is an issue that would need to be discussed in depth further but I would hope to have it be fairly loose. I would like to see outside of electronic music that more traditional performing bands would see all profits from their live performance retained to them but have a percentage or all proceeds from physical medium sales at shows go back to the label. Something along those lines maybe. I am not sure, it definitely needs more discussion.

This isn't gonna work like this.

A Label should be taken care of by one or two persons ultimately who manage everything. They should have similar taste and be on the same page, more or less like friends. Labels with too much external influence are shite as they can't do anything because everyone wants a label too steer into another direction ultimately leading to a simple halt of productivity. You just need someone with a clear vision, willing to put in hard work and dedication. All set.

1000$ objective is unrealistic. There's just a handful of artists that has made such figures on this website and they're not really active anymore, and don't feel the need for a TA label. I don't think this is a good plan. Even though there's some talent around. The community aspect of this label will translate into a blurred vision of what a label it should be and would make decision making very hard. Unless it's managed by few people without TA's interfering.

quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller This isn't gonna work like this. A Label should be taken care of by one or two persons ultimately who manage everything. They should have similar taste and be on the same page, more or less like friends. Labels with too much external influence are shite as they can't do anything because everyone wants a label too steer into another direction ultimately leading to a simple halt of productivity. You just need someone with a clear vision, willing to put in hard work and dedication. All set. 1000$ objective is unrealistic. There's just a handful of artists that has made such figures on this website and they're not really active anymore, and don't feel the need for a TA label. I don't think this is a good plan. Even though there's some talent around. The community aspect of this label will translate into a blurred vision of what a label it should be and would make decision making very hard. Unless it's managed by few people without TA's interfering.

Once again this is NOT going to be something Tranceaddict specific, nor will it cater just to Trance or even Electronic music. It might not even start with EDM, but with something that has a bigger market potential to help get things off the ground.

Your point about the label being to varied is true, and it might start more specific, and it probably will start with just a few people at the top. Eventually I would hope to see "divisions" of a parent label with a more specific focus.

The idea here isn't to get the artist rich on this label, or the label to score huge, but to use it as launching point for them on to bigger and better things, like joining a larger, more traditional record label. Hopefully some artists will like this communal nature and stay with it despite the offer of bigger labels, which I don't see as too crazy with the proliferation of independent rock labels.

I understand your pessimism though. A lot of these ideas could change drastically as the plan fleshes itself out more and more and thats why I want input from small artists on how they think a service like this could best serve them.

It will never work.

quote:

Originally posted by parafrNalia It will never work.

Well help be constructive and give me the reasons you think it wont so I can work on them and try to make it happen.

quote:

Originally posted by Joss Weatherby Once again this is NOT going to be something Tranceaddict specific, nor will it cater just to Trance or even Electronic music. It might not even start with EDM, but with something that has a bigger market potential to help get things off the ground. Your point about the label being to varied is true, and it might start more specific, and it probably will start with just a few people at the top. Eventually I would hope to see "divisions" of a parent label with a more specific focus.

I was kind of referring to the idea to vote for which tracks are released (********s's i think). That woeld just be a mess. your quote sounds standard, but it is bound to work best...

quote:

The idea here isn't to get the artist rich on this label, or the label to score huge, but to use it as launching point for them on to bigger and better things, like joining a larger, more traditional record label. Hopefully some artists will like this communal nature and stay with it despite the offer of bigger labels, which I don't see as too crazy with the proliferation of independent rock labels.

Honestly the things that halped me most where the releases themselves and the cash. I bought nice new gear which helped me improve my production qualtiy a lot. Strangely enough my least known tracks got me the most gigs thus far.

quote:

I understand your pessimism though. A lot of these ideas could change drastically as the plan fleshes itself out more and more and thats why I want input from small artists on how they think a service like this could best serve them.

I think you'd mostly need funds pre-launch. a proper (online) marketing plan and a couple of killer tracks with amazing remixes...

Arent there enough labels around already ??

couldn't agree more.

quote:

[i][b]uff isn't rocket science. You think you got something that you can do something with... do it. It is that simple? Why havn't you done it yet?

Law of attraction?

quote:

[i][b]uff isn't rocket science. You think you got something that you can do something with... do it. It is that simple? Why havn't you done it yet?

Law of attraction?

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