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Thom Yorke (Radiohead) warns new artists not to sign with labels - but then what...

kavika411

kavika411

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 8, 2006
617
3
Alabama
Apologies if this is the wrong forum or if this has been covered (if so, please link), but anywho...

Thom Yorke of Radiohead is warning new artists against signing with labels - going so far as to say the labels will be dead and buried soon. I really don't disagree. But what I am more interested in is what new artists should be doing to (1) get release-quality music made, (2) distribute said music, (3) market themselves, and (4) tour. That's not a rhetorical thing I am inquiring about, either. I'm just wondering if anyone/anysite has solved that riddle to replace what the soon-to-be-dead labels offered. I've listened to/read Yorke's thoughts on the dying industry, and Trent Reznor's thoughts, and so on and so forth, but I don't hear a clear answer on those points. Curious if anyone else has.

Thanks.
 
howard

howard

macrumors 68020
Nov 18, 2002
2,017
4
Keep in mind he's talking about the Major labels, not labels in general. His comment, while generally pretty true, is a bit over dramatic. While sales are declining for them, they still have profitable acts. What is happening more and more is that they will only produce acts that are more sure bets at becoming successful, rather than also developing artists. Because of this, as Trent Reznor has said, if you are a band that wants to be famous and make money, the labels are the best place to start, you just have to be willing to change your look and be as adaptable to them as possible. If you are band that wants to make music, on the bright side, you are probably already doing that :) To hopefully make a living as well takes a quality product and lots of time and effort to slowly but surely get your name out.

Look at the successful "indie" bands of today. A lot of these bands have been at it for a decade and are now becoming successful. On the other hand, internet has made successful acts overnight, if you music is good enough it can catch on and spread like wild fire. Other good music never sees the light of day

Thing is while in the past it was clear cut what you needed to do, sign that deal, now it is not so clear cut, which is causing a panic for new artists who don't have a specific path to take to success.

Bottom line is they aren't given clear points on what you should do cause there are none!
 
kavika411

kavika411

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 8, 2006
617
3
Alabama
howard said:
Keep in mind he's talking about the Major labels, not labels in general. His comment, while generally pretty true, is a bit over dramatic. While sales are declining for them, they still have profitable acts. What is happening more and more is that they will only produce acts that are more sure bets at becoming successful, rather than also developing artists. Because of this, as Trent Reznor has said, if you are a band that wants to be famous and make money, the labels are the best place to start, you just have to be willing to change your look and be as adaptable to them as possible. If you are band that wants to make music, on the bright side, you are probably already doing that :) To hopefully make a living as well takes a quality product and lots of time and effort to slowly but surely get your name out.

Look at the successful "indie" bands of today. A lot of these bands have been at it for a decade and are now becoming successful. On the other hand, internet has made successful acts overnight, if you music is good enough it can catch on and spread like wild fire. Other good music never sees the light of day

Thing is while in the past it was clear cut what you needed to do, sign that deal, now it is not so clear cut, which is causing a panic for new artists who don't have a specific path to take to success.

Bottom line is they aren't given clear points on what you should do cause there are none!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I imagine that for music artists it is both an incredibly exciting and incredibly frustrating time as everyone tries to figure out the "new rules" in all this.
 
leekohler

leekohler

macrumors G5
Dec 22, 2004
14,164
26
Chicago, Illinois
howard said:
Keep in mind he's talking about the Major labels, not labels in general. His comment, while generally pretty true, is a bit over dramatic. While sales are declining for them, they still have profitable acts. What is happening more and more is that they will only produce acts that are more sure bets at becoming successful, rather than also developing artists. Because of this, as Trent Reznor has said, if you are a band that wants to be famous and make money, the labels are the best place to start, you just have to be willing to change your look and be as adaptable to them as possible. If you are band that wants to make music, on the bright side, you are probably already doing that :) To hopefully make a living as well takes a quality product and lots of time and effort to slowly but surely get your name out.

Look at the successful "indie" bands of today. A lot of these bands have been at it for a decade and are now becoming successful. On the other hand, internet has made successful acts overnight, if you music is good enough it can catch on and spread like wild fire. Other good music never sees the light of day

Thing is while in the past it was clear cut what you needed to do, sign that deal, now it is not so clear cut, which is causing a panic for new artists who don't have a specific path to take to success.

Bottom line is they aren't given clear points on what you should do cause there are none!
Click to expand...

I think indie labels are the wave of the future. The majors won't last that much longer.

On a similar note- indie record stores were the only ones to survive the digital revolution as well.
 
disconap

disconap

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2005
1,810
3
Portland, OR
Thom Yorke needs to keep on the path he's on but stop trying to tell others how to run their careers, as the rest of us didn't get multiple millions pumped into our images for years.

BTW, that money was spent by the people he's now trashing. I have little love for the majors, but come on...
 
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