yes, good songs are a prerequisite to this discussion.. you have to be a good band... but trust me, i just did a demo for a band that is being headhunted by one of the top indepedant labels in the world... the label had shown some interest after their prior recording was done, as it was decent quality, but things didn't get fired up until i produced an album quality demo for them... at the band's expense.
you have to realize that the music industry has changed drastically, thanks in large part to the illegal p2p file-swapping and burning that some of you on here defend so vehemently.
ok... i'll divide the industry into two eras and delineate them with these names: pre-broadband and post-broadband. pre-broadband the industry was much more healthy... and much more power was in the hands of A&R staff... these are the guys that seek out the talent and sign it, and they are the ones that are savvy enough to hear good music through bad production. them was the good 'ol days... you just had to write good songs and an A&R guy could discover you, and then with his approval alone money from the label would be pumped into developing you and that would continue for a few albums even.. artist develoment.. what a concept. it meant that your career wasn't done after one mediocre selling album, and labels used to develop artists in-house, with label money behind it... and all at the judgement of a trusted A&R staff.
post-broadband: ahhh, it's so great to be able to just download albums for free from your p2p software and never really ever get around to buying the actual CD, isn't it? surely the big-money labels and artists aren't affected... and hey, bands with albums out are already rich right? the post-broadband record label environment has a totally changed landscape.... A&R guys are still charged with finding talent but now, instead of developing it in-house, the best you can expect is to be given some advice and then follow it or not, and the most often given advice is to write more, better songs and to get a killer recording of them.... and you pay for it yourself. "why" you ask? because A&R guys don't write their own tickets at the labels anymore now that money is so much tighter due to lost revenues. also A&R staffs now answer to, and have to present potential signings to "boards" made up of higher echelon business suits... people who do not have the ear to hear "through" bad production. the former relative autonomy of the A&R staff has been scuttled.
welcome to the new millenium.
ps.. the above is in regards to major labels and the larger independants, but much of it is still applicable to smaller indepedants to varying degrees. also, let me clarify... i LOVE broadband, as much as anyone else.. but it has to be used responsibly.
for Toolish:
A Toolish Circle said:
his degree was a major in bass and minor in guitar.
verbatim from Adam's bio on the
Zing Studios site:
He attended Berklee College of Music and graduated in 1999 with a bachelors degree in Music Production and Engineering.
:hotjump:
