Steve Albini says "OMG! WTF?" to major labels.

[NAD]

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

This is the main reason why I never cared when major labels complained about losing $$$ on downloaded shit. Fucking bastards.

 

[JayKeeley]

Holy shit, so that explains why all these musicians stop playing and start producing instead. That's where all the money is. Did you see the advances producers are making out of a $250K budget??? $50K!!!

I swear, you gotta learn how to produce, set up your own studio, and go from there. That is a sound investment if you ever wanted to earn a steady living in music.

Roy Z is my hero.

 

[Ayeka]

Sobering reading!

I don't care, I'm still gonna go for it

 

[Papa Josh]

Yep, think about how many of your favorites actually produce as well.

Doug Pinnick, Ty Tabor (king's X), James Murphy, Erik Rutan.... just for a start.

 

[lurch70]

Interned at then, Mercury Records back in the early 90's and saw these type of budget breakdowns daily ...as I used to xerox them

I am surprised that most of you did not know this ... as with most other businesses, the employee (the band) always gets shafted. But they do get the pussy ...

 

[lurch70]

also this is assuming that there are sales of 250K records. what if the band only sells 10K?

I am on the side of the record labels on this one. They take a major risk every time they push a band. Only a dime a dozen actually make it for them.
The complete financial gamble is made by the label, which uses their money to push the band. The band's really only risk is their time involved and the pressure to come up with some killer shit.

 

[NAD]

They take a major risk every time they push a band. Only a dime a dozen actually make it for them. The complete financial gamble is made by the label, which uses their money to push the band. The band's really only risk is their time involved and the pressure to come up with some killer shit.

I've heard this before, but what I don't understand is why don't the major labels go to already established acts? I've read the stories of labels pumping in millions to some chode, blinging him out with the hottest cars, wheels, jackets, songwriters, and guest stars, then when nobody buys the album the labels justify that to charge big time bucks to bands like in this example. Why not go to the immensely flooded pool of groups with dedicated followings and give them some exposure to make a growing band big? That seems like a better risk to me.

But then again, I hate cookie cutter easy digestible tripe so I'm not on the same wavelength that major labels are. Maybe the world really does need another white rapper.

 

[lurch70]

those more established bands usually get a better deal then mentioned in the above article.
don't forget then when an established underground band goes mainstream there is also the risk of losing their core audience before picking up a whole new one.
there is no doubt the industry is bloated and overpaid, especially the tech end of it, but there is much more psychology to the whole thing that what you can scratch on the surface.

I think I did mention once this band Mind Bomb that was signed to Mercury when I was there and the ridiculous amounts of money pumped into their debut (which was really killer and ahead of it's time IMHO) ... but at the end of the day did not sell shit.

 

[matt99_crew]

You guys familar w/ Ani Difranco? Pretty cool fem alt singer/songwriter. Anyway, she does pretty much all her shit herself. I'm not sure if she has her own studio, but she produces her stuff, puts it out on her label and distributes it. Labels have courted her for years, but she just laughs, as she's plenty successful w/ her DIY effort and is making a ton more than she would on a label.

 

[Papa Josh]

You guys familar w/ Ani Difranco? Pretty cool fem alt singer/songwriter. Anyway, she does pretty much all her shit herself. I'm not sure if she has her own studio, but she produces her stuff, puts it out on her label and distributes it. Labels have courted her for years, but she just laughs, as she's plenty successful w/ her DIY effort and is making a ton more than she would on a label.

Don't fool yourself, she has a distribution deal with Koch, or at least she did a few years ago, I worked for them asa Field Marketing Rep. and had to do inventory counts of certain cds when Render came out. My wife is a huge fan, personally her voice grates my ears... but yeah, she's had major support.

 

[lizard]

she's had support for one reason: she sells, to a really loyal fanbase, and that's all the major labels see, is profit, that's why they'll distribute another label's product. There's no desire to create art for art's sake. One of my all time favorite bands is Cowboy Junkies....they went the major route for years but got tired of the bullshit, but they've gone back to having a major distribute them. Getting a major to distribute only makes sense; the indies still (although its slowly getting better) have a problem getting the product out.

Albini can afford to be a purist because he's made a fortune. He's produced some HUGE sellers, but also truckloads of crap.

 

[JayKeeley]

I am surprised that most of you did not know this ... as with most other businesses, the employee (the band) always gets shafted. But they do get the pussy ...

I kinda did - I just didn't realize how much producers made. I mean, they make more than the band manager.

Let's put it this way, producers make 20% of the label capital offering. I cannot even begin to comprehend how much money Bob Rock has made out of Metallica...

 

[J.]

Albini can afford to be a purist because he's made a fortune. He's produced some HUGE sellers, but also truckloads of crap.

Not to mention he was the driving force in revolutionary noise rock band, Shellac.

Though I doubt that made him much money, it just got his name out there.

 

[Demonspell]

The lesson of this article, beyond the fact that record exces are parasites and an advance doesn't make you rich, is that from both a business and musical standpoint it's better to produce your own shit (unless you're Steve Harris) and if you must deal with a major, have them distribute only.

 

[lizard]

advances always sound cool, but aren't they just that, an advance on anticipated earnings? And if you don't sell alot, you end up in debt to the company. so bands are like, woooooooo dude we got a $50,000 advance partytime! and then.....