Does your band need a record label? Absolutely not but possibly maybe. You can make your own records and sell them online and at shows even get yourself in music services like iTunes without too much effort. some quick google searches will probably give you most of the things your looking for. But not everyone is “Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah”. How far will you get? Do you know a graphic artist? How ’bout a web designer? If you have and know how to do everything, go for it, you don’t need a label. If you don’t that is were the new definition of label is coming into play.

The new label is more of a service, they help you design your album cover. Help you get things recorded properly and mastered. Help with the website and get everything done so you see your album on iTunes and amazon as well. Thats what the new label should be. Here’s the problem with having a label though, MONEY. Who pays for what, who gets what, how long before we’re famous. Chances are the fame you’re looking for will never come but you’ll leave a legacy along the way. Chances are there will be little money to fight about. Despite all that, chances are you will have an audience that digs what you do. Which is more important in my opinion.

Nonetheless here is a breakdown of money and the such when it comes to the indie music biz. First physical sales from a retailer like amazon. I release an album and give a price point of 12 dollars. Half goes to the distributor without question. I mean there are logistical fees and retail fees and the such. Everyone needs to make money. So I see about 5-6 dollars per album sale. Of that half goes to the Band and half to me. I take half to cover costs and for future investment in other albums. I’m definitely not getting rich. So that 12 dollar album only gives the band about 2-3 dollars. Sometimes less depending on how much is spent on promotion and packaging.

Download service wise emusic is the best to work with but iTunes is the most profitable. Simply because the iTunes music store is such a giant an there are so many iPods out there. We get approximately 16 cents per track from emusic and about 55 cents from iTunes. Other services (rhapsody, napster) only give us about a penny or a fraction thereof depending on the service.

Then there is torrents and P2P, you make more fans. You get your music to more people, People sharing your music is a good thing, it will hopefully get more of them to a show. You might lose the 2-3 dollars on an album but you’ll get them when you’re at the club and they showed up hopefully.

It’s not easy and it’s not as fun as you might think. It’s actually a lot of work and time. Nonetheless it’s apart of the history, albeit a small part, it’s still a part of it.