Unsigned is beautiful

The prolific use by the music industry of the term 'unsigned artist' has for a long time been a concept neatly exploited, to infuse the music community and general public with the notion and sometimes belief that artistic credibility, success and recognition, can only be achieved by being 'signed' to a major record label and yet we know that this is wrong. Today, it doesn't matter anymore whether you are signed or not, the opportunities are open to all thanks to the new media place, the Internet.

Before the Internet revolution, a band had to record an album in a studio, manufacture CD's, get their music on the radio for exposure, be on TV to promote their newly released album and have their CD distributed in the shops. The infrastructure of releasing an album back then was very heavy and therefore very costly, someone had to put the money up and in the majority of cases it was the record label. Above all, an artist/band needed a whole army of people working with and for them, sharing the big cake, which left the artists with the smaller if not minuscule cut. They had to make a hell of a lot of sales to start making some money. Getting signed at that time seemed to be the only way forward.

This isn't the case anymore, times have changed for the better, being 'unsigned' is now the key.

Nowadays artists can record music on a computer in their bedroom and release it via downloads over the Internet for a very low cost. It has never been this easy and it's free to be a member of a community based website such as myspace or youtube to name just a couple.

You can make friends, showcase your music, network and now it is also possible for artists to sell their songs direct via Snocap on myspace. Digital distribution is now the key to boosting sales. Today there is no need to manufacture CD's nor is there any packaging or shipping cost.

Promotion and advertising have also become easy and accessible with an array of online advertising websites to choose from, where you decide the amount you want to spend on your campaign. Through RSS feeds and podcasts, artists and bands can propagate their music and latest news throughout the worldwide web thus potentially touching thousands, hundred of thousands if not millions of new fans. In other words, a band doesn't need a record label anymore to get their music off the ground as the Internet has opened it up to absolutely everyone to use it as a platform to share, promote and make money.

The big advantage in being 'unsigned' and using the Internet is that you don't have to pay a whole army of intermediate people like a publisher, record company, manager etc... you can cut down to a strict minimum people who you find useful to work with.

The whole music industry has shifted towards the realm of independence, thus taking away the monopoly of a 'one way only music-making propaganda,' imposed by the established record label dinosaurs.

From a consumer point of view, we now have real choice and I must admit the music I buy is 95% by independent artists via downloads. I don't have to buy the whole album if I just like 3 tracks on it. It's better to sell 1 song 10 times to 10 different people than sell 1 CD with 10 tracks to 1 person who is only going to like 1 song. Downloads give us consumers the flexibility to buy what we like, thereby encouraging us to spend more money discovering new talent.

I love the new era and embrace it with wide-opened arms. I very much encourage my fellow musicians to pursue their independent journey and not waste their time 'knocking on record labels doors'. There's nothing divine about a record label. Artists ought to take an interest in the business reality of releasing an album, for it is as fascinating and challenging as making music. Knowledge is freedom and by learning from business people, artists will understand the mechanism, which can achieve them success.

After all, music is their life, why not make it their business as well.

Unsigned is beautiful and freedom is priceless.

April 2007

Review Raver : Margaux