are record labels relevant anymore?

[rené]

ouch, this seems weird and wrong, i think that the solo andata record would be something that boomkat (for example) would be raving about...
are you bound to this big distributor (I assume cargo...) via contracts? no? cut out the middleman, contact online distros directly... just checked your "buy/distro page", for germany I recommend a-musik, smaller: bis auf's messer... it is worth a try...

in regards to the comments orphax made and taylor's response...getting distribution has proven to be very difficult, but, the problem has run a little deeper. this big worldwide distributor that i was referring to took on the first release from my label, shopped to, i believe, any and all of the smaller online distributors and stores, and the reception was very cold. so cold in fact, that this big worldwide distributor couldn't take any copies of the first release and told to me to get back in touch for the next release. this seems to me to be the beginnings of a vicious circle. what i've learned here is that it isn't the reluctance of the big-time distributors, but the smaller ones that must in turn take on the risk of buying copies of LPs they aren't sure will sell. maybe the big time distributors recognize this and are being a bit more selective with what they would like to offer.

[desirepathrecs]

rene, believe me i hear you. the problem i've run into is that those distributors you mentioned will not answer emails from lowly newly-formed labels and, i believe, get all of their inventory from big-name distributors. it's too much trouble to deal with each and every label, accounting for invoices and sales, etc. is way too much trouble. i've tried a-musik and boomkat numerous times and i don't know why i don't get any responses. they aren't the only ones that do this; there are quite a few US distributors guilty of the same crime. experimedia, though, is a sort of god-send for new and smaller labels that get the cold shoulder from all the other big distributors. will it be enough? i don't know. but i will continue to send emails to the smaller distributors and online mail-order companies because something's got to give.

[taylordeupree]

yeah, that's a bummer.. i'm surprised that with such a nicely designed 12" from a well-liked band.. that boomkat isn't interested.

.. i'm going to send you a PM

[steinbruchel]

tho, none of us are on Prince's level (except Ralph, of course, at least fashion-wise)...

careful boy... you haven't seen my new press shots yet 

[Aquarelle]

I cannot echo these sentiments loudly enough.  After starting a label a little over year ago I've run into many of the same things, where it's nearly impossible to get any response from some of the well-known distributors (FE, Boomkat, etc). 

I have four releases under my belt (the label is called Rest + Noise), and I take the approach of creating handmade, art-driven releases on cd and (hopefully in the future) vinyl.  Tying this into the other board of it cds are a dying format, I often run into the problem where my releases do not conform to typical cd cases/size.  Consequently, I run into this: I want to make a unique, personalized listening experience via packaging in hopes of keeping the physical format alive, but while doing that I only further limit my chances of getting noticed and picked up by larger distributors.  I'm really trying to avoid it being a lose-lose type of situation. 

In other words, you're not alone.

rene, believe me i hear you. the problem i've run into is that those distributors you mentioned will not answer emails from lowly newly-formed labels and, i believe, get all of their inventory from big-name distributors. it's too much trouble to deal with each and every label, accounting for invoices and sales, etc. is way too much trouble. i've tried a-musik and boomkat numerous times and i don't know why i don't get any responses. they aren't the only ones that do this; there are quite a few US distributors guilty of the same crime. experimedia, though, is a sort of god-send for new and smaller labels that get the cold shoulder from all the other big distributors. will it be enough? i don't know. but i will continue to send emails to the smaller distributors and online mail-order companies because something's got to give.

[Orphax]

Again exactly the same for me.
I hope with the upcoming release it changes. Else it will be very hard for me to continue

rene, believe me i hear you. the problem i've run into is that those distributors you mentioned will not answer emails from lowly newly-formed labels and, i believe, get all of their inventory from big-name distributors. it's too much trouble to deal with each and every label, accounting for invoices and sales, etc. is way too much trouble. i've tried a-musik and boomkat numerous times and i don't know why i don't get any responses. they aren't the only ones that do this; there are quite a few US distributors guilty of the same crime. experimedia, though, is a sort of god-send for new and smaller labels that get the cold shoulder from all the other big distributors. will it be enough? i don't know. but i will continue to send emails to the smaller distributors and online mail-order companies because something's got to give.

[Ends_Meet]

I surely feel like they're relevant, but I think my ideas of what it is have been changing heavily too. I've started to look at it as much less of a business and more as just a form of creative control and curation over albums and media, and not really expecting profit to come from it, I'm less disappointed when it doesn't come.

I think I'm more concerned about lessening interest in packaged music, books, and films most of all. I hope that things don't get to the point to where people would just rather have a half-price digital download to a nicely packaged CD. Possibly there will always be people who enjoy these things, but it needs to be adapted in production terms to covering just those people. Especially concerning books, made in limited runs.

Or the possibility of people just not being interested in the music, but that's more personally relevant also to Celer and has to do more with my own questions of whether or not people are even interested in hearing what is left.. then whether I should put it out regardless.

I guess though if you look at it as a labor of love then there's nothing really to lose, and all the money you're putting into it is worthwhile if you're expecting not to get it back anyway.

That isn't the ideal situation of course, and it doesn't answer any questions about returns for the artists work, I'm still unsure of those things..

Still, I think its meaningful having labels. I'd surely be very sad if all the labels I follow were just digital downloads.

[M.Ostermeier]

I began buying and listening to music in the 80s.  

One issue not mentioned yet, I think, is the consequences of the fact that the amount of music released now (on physical labels, on net-labels, by the artists themselves, etc.) is just ENORMOUS compared to before.  While I can't bring myself to say that the availability of affordable technology for artists to create and record music (and labels to release and promote music) is a bad thing, it has resulted in an ever increasing number of possible songs that the music fan can buy (if they do buy) and as a result any one release's share gets smaller and smaller.  

A related point is that this sea of music is mostly filled with bad to mediocre music, and the music genre's that are the subject of this forum are not immune from this.  I think it is hard for the average music fan to distinguish the great from the mediocre.  And in the music we all love here I think what is great is much more subjective than in most genres.  Also, I think it is relatively easy in these genres to make mediocre music.  Music that we hear and say "Yeah, that's OK."  This only adds to the problem for us.  I think there is a lot of "OK" music out there.   I spend a lot of time trying to find the great music.   And this is where labels can help tremendously.

I think the role of the label can be to separate the great from the mediocre (as had been said many times already).  It can also be to make an artistic statement (the label as art). (12k is a beautiful example of both of these).  But, starting a label is so much easier now than it used to be (distribution difficulties aside) that there are so many labels and maybe we have the same problem again but this time at the level of the label.  

And I say this admitting that I myself have added to the problem by starting a label this year.    

-Marc

[chorus7]

I do think labels are important to some extent ( smaller ones especially ) to give an artist a community of like minded listeners and like minded artists to work with ( and get influenced by )...In the fine arts community you see this a lot and I think the future of labels are small pockets of artist helping each other out with the help of a label ( like 12k )...

I've been following Taylors work since the Instinct days ( early 92 ) and then to 12k and I think that it followed a natural course, leading to the freedom of art from that the artist on 12k see...

Now as far as curating I think ( just like small artist communities ) you run into who you know...etc and how vocal/prolific you are in the community and I think this is where a lot of artists have turned to their own resources to get their music out...But again I think this leads to artist being drawn to these new labels and joining in with like minded people...

Joe

P.S Excuse my English, this is why I never post long posts 

[moize]

Again i feel this is where quality control comes in, and much like taste is highly subjective. To explain;
Now records shops, and i'm talking about that place where you had to physically go into, and talk to the owners, or in the good ones (like Smallfish) they talked to you, there was a sense of community, all sharing a love of great sound. This real interaction, really helped know the good from the mediocre, you listen to it, try another, debate it. With this community moving to the internet and even then almost moving away from there too, the only place left for this assurance is with the labels. I have been a follower of 12k for many years, and it is this following where i can judge in my own mind, a sort of dialogue with the styles 12k and other labels put out. I get a sense of how the sound is changing, developing or not by following a kind of taste, that of Taylors, to some degree, but also something that fits a model, that of 12k or Line. With this i can compare to previous releases, other releases by that artist on other labels and all manor of ways that go to create in my mind something to judge what i perceive as a quality release or not. To say it is only the music that does this, i just simply don't believe it does, it is more than that, and a label does a great deal towards knowing what is good or not.
Having said that, there are many labels, that i can't really consider a proper label. They pop up everywhere and disappear just as quick, and it all seems a bit reactionary or following that trend, or a case of, "nobody will release our stuff so we will do it ourselves", and perhaps that is where the mediocre comes in.
A label is an identity, a belonging to like minded people, a family or less or more experienced people. Without the label everyone would be fumbling around in the dark.
It is labels like 12k and Line, no actually it was the label 12k and Line that kept me going, that still keeps me going today.

I must say i am a little worried that such a question was even asked, if 12k or Line stopped, which i suppose they will do one day, well, i dread to think about it.

[bojanix]

After somebody twitted a link to the trailer about the Independent Music Stores in UK and how fast they are disappearing I started thinking more and more about the small labels.

Here is what I wrote on my blog: http://bojanek.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/small-labels-dying/

Does anybody on this planet want to buy some good music from small labels, or are we sentenced to death? Do you like downloading only FREE music, either from legal or illegal resources?

Some of the small labels sell their music, but most of them have the recognisable artists. But still there are many labels like ETALABEL.com (http://etalabel.com/) which goal is to promote young and unknown artists. If people don’t buy our albums, even if they are sold with huge discounts (see our summer sale and 50% discount), does that mean that they don’t need new artists and fresh music? I really cannot find the answer.

Since January ETALABEL has published 3 albums. 2 DigiPacks and one FREE EP (in August). And the most downloaded album is of course the FREE EP. And even if people get a discount password for our other stuff, they don’t use it! They try to find our music on services where people upload our stuff illegally. (I’ve already asked one of such services to delete our albums, cause somebody shared the music illegally). Does that mean that we must tour, and sell our music during the concerts? But everybody knows that not all artists have time to go on tour or they simply don’t play concerts for many reasons.

I must strongly agree with David Wenngren from library tapes (http://librarytapes.com/) . This is what he wrote:

“Over the last few year I’ve read or heard stories about musicians committing suicide, labels closing down, distributors going bankrupt or not paying the labels what they owe them. All of this because a lot of people don’t pay for the music they are listening to and stealing from artists they claim to love.

I’ve heard many excuses for this. Some say that a lot of listeners will make it easier for bands to tour and sell merch. This might be true for some, but not everyone are able to tour.

The last couple of years I’ve seen a decline in CD sales, not only through the labels that I run, but also while touring. It’s so sad to see great labels stop and it would be even sadder to see artists quit making records because their fans don’t want to support them. I understand it might be tempting to download music for free, but please think twice before doing so. “

And what do you think?

[losingtoday]

New to the forum and wanted to hit on this older topic for a bit...

I love independent labels and I hope they will always be around, despite the many challenges they currently face.

I think of the label literally as a brand or flavor. If the label is consistent in their aesthetic, I know it’s likely I will discover new artists from that label that I might have not otherwise known without the label presence. If the label is dedicated to consistency in their artists, then the label becomes just as important to follow as the individual artist. It’s boggled me for years that iTunes or other online retailers don't offer any label groupings or links, as this would be a fantastic way to discover more artists with the sound you’re after.