You are to blame for your success. You are to blame for the reasons that you'll become a billionaire. You are to blame for your increased networking at music conferences and music showcases. You are to blame when you hire a business consultant that will help chart a course of success for your music business. You are to blame when you take yourself serious enough to stop spending on consumer goods and start investing in your own business. You are to blame when you download Music Industry Connection Ebooks and learn about copyrights, music publishing and putting together a practical marketing plan. You are to blame when you participate in sites like WOTS and network with music industry people from all over the world from the comfort of your own home. You are to blame.
Below is a repost from Isis -Founder & CEO of Word of the Streets (WOTS) Magazine. The post comes from a forum where someone talks about how they've been taking by sharks in the music industry after spending about $500,000 and not getting a deal. I thought you'd enjoy the information and possibly take heed to it. As always remember that this is your life, your experience, your business and your career.
It's very important that music execs or CEO's of independently ran labels take the time out to do their research before investing half a million dollars in any project. Sounds to me like your homework was not done prior to spending money. The key thing for your project is not going directly to radio which I see so many artist doing. The key thing is about educating your self about the music industry of today. And building key relationships to help you take your career further. Start with a business plan and decide do you want a label deal or a artist deal or distribution deal. There are plenty of alternatives.
Also you also need to decide are you in this for fame or are you in this to make money? I know plenty of artist who make a lot of money who are not what you call commercial main stream. Sponsoring events is not going to get you a deal and if you seriously thought that was going to happen then you were misguided. You could have just have simply attended the event with a focus to network and got more done then spending large amounts of money for a event thats not even yours.
Another thing is make sure your business is handled with proper paper work such as contracts. Nobody will work their hardest for you with out proper black and white. It not only protects the person you are doing business with but it also protects you as well. I see way to many cats get taken advantage of because they themselves is to lazy to do the necessary research on their own project. At the end of the day you can't blame no one but yourself for making the wrong choices. Further more if you hire someone to do a job for you. You need to have the understanding that you hired them in other words you hired to retain them and their relationships to assist you in services. In no uncertain terms is a person that you paid to retain them supposed to pay for stuff that you need. Such as management, press kits, paying for your record to get spun in clubs etc, etc. If they have the relationship that you don't have and connects the dots for you then its up to you to take care of what needs to be taken care of.
Alot of these cats out here just do not understand the game then get mad when someone explains it to them. What good is radio spins going to do if you don't have the proper promotions and marketing team out on the streets in every market promoting your artist. How are you going to create a fan base? Thats what makes people go and buy records not radio spins. A lot of people don't even listen to the radio anymore. Also you must promote your artist online." Isis -WOTS
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