So I’ve had records released on various labels over the years, and a few self-released, but it seems those traditional label days are over. How would you release a debut solo EP in the real world today?
I’m able to master it myself, and design the artwork/typography as well, so that’s sorted. I intend to follow it up with a 18-track LP, which was overly ambitious from the outset and has been taking forever… so a 4-track EP seems like a good way to get the project out there initially.
What other worthwhile options are out there besides Bandcamp? Physical versus digital? Promotion? Is touring/DJing needed at all these days for electronic music? I know there are a lot of ‘Nauts that have navigated these waters and put out quality releases, so any insights are appreciated
probably depends a bit on what genre you’re making? if you’re self releasing, you can do anything you want. lathe cut vinyl is pretty cheap these days. are you trying to play live at some point? or might be helpful to know a bit more about what your goals are for the project.
but bandcamp forsure, a lot of people use beatport for electronic stuff as well.
i released my debut solo ep a few months ago with a label and immediately started getting gigs after that, etc and my goals were met. so i was happy to have gone the label route.
You might also consider doing a limited, signed and numbered run of personalized ‘art releases’ (i.e. records with unusual handmade covers, ala early Zoviet France, or hand colored/painted/stamped CD or cassette covers). Bandcamp would be a very good place to sell them. All of my commercial releases (both self-released and through the label) had associated limited art editions. You’d know, you have some of the art…
I think having something physical to go with a release definitely can help with traction, people see a thing they can buy and well makes them want to check out the album to decide if they want it… but yeah do a small run if you’re doing it yourself. I’ve always essentially sold my tapes at less profit than my digital sales. I eventually had a record store in Japan contact me and order a run of a bunch of my tapes for sale over there. But yeah I guess it depends on your hopes for your release. A good indie label does still hold some weight as far as they have found a fan base that will check stuff out. But yeah I think there is a all the stars lining up perfect to find a good indie label that fits your music and actually is open to a dialogue about a release.
nice, i’m more firmly in the detroit/berghain techno world which has a pretty established process in place as far as labels, releases… which is really nice tbh coming from releasing in other genres in the past. but either way, i would suggest trying to find 6-8 labels that fit your vision for a release and work from there. and you might be able to see from other artists how that worked out for them (vinyl, sales, etc).
i chose to release on a local label (i live in a big city in the us with a great techno scene), so i could support my local community before anything else. i cold called them - sent a dm on instagram asking if i could send a demo. they said yes to the release right away and i didn’t have to give up any creative freedom. the label’s promo network was able to get my release to top djs in the world (ben sims, dvs1) and are doing a vinyl run. i also signed another ep recently to a great label in spain and i cold called them as well. seems to be the way to do it, as most labels communicate well if they’re not accepting demos.
All of the above are better answers than I can give, but wanted to briefly ask what the purpose of the release would be. Asking sincerely.
As someone who has never released anything, just getting my music out there would be an achievement in it itself. Other people are trying to make a leaving out of it.
You mentioned you are not hoping to get gigs by it, unless it’s absolutely worth it, so that’s not the driver.
You said you can do all artwork and mixing/mastering yourself, so you’re not looking for help to finalize the production.
So it sounds like perhaps your driver for you original post is maximizing reach - getting your art out to the right people who might be interested?
Good question. My guess would have been that unless you want to gig or produce and sell a good amount of phsyical media, you probably don’t need a label and labels won’t be interested. I’m glad to hear if the situation is better than I suspect here :).
I think in today’s world you really need to think about the following:
Why do you want to release your music and what this actually looks like?
Who is your target audience, are they willing to buy your music?
How do you get it out to them?
What about publishing? What do you need to do to get your art get used in different media whilst we can because generative AI will likely be coming for that in the not to distant future.
Unfortunately the mindset for the majority of people who listen to music is that they’ve already paid for it through whatever subscription they pay for so it’s only the real passionate music fans who are buying music these days.
I’m inspired by the gaming industry and high end restaurants.
So the gaming industry does pre orders and fine dinning restaurants now sells tickets which are mostly non refundable.
I’m starting to think pre orders would work for musicians. You use pre orders to make limited runs and only fulfil them if you get enough pre orders to cover costs. Of course if you don’t reach the target everything gets refunded.
The streaming market is completely over saturated with 10s of thousands of songs being added each day plus we’re starting to see completely AI created music also being uploaded as well, there was that AI band can did 2M plays in a few weeks which was mentioned in the music media.
I view the challenge as how do I release music which benefits me, how do I keep control, make a good product which I’m proud of and don’t lose money and end up with stacks of media at home which hasn’t sold.
My take: the label days are not over, you just need to be careful on which label you release. I’ve released on good labels (the ones who actually work for promoting the release and create opportunities for their artists) and on bad labels (the ones, who just dump it via their socials and that’s it).
I’ve also released a LOT of stuff via the self-publishing route. Both routes have their ups and downs, but a good label can generate a lot more following than you alone, especially, if you’re not known yet and do not have pretty much any following (so there isn’t much word of mouth thing happening and so on, yet).
Physical (especially vinyl and c-cassettes) can fly off the shelves, IF you get the word out… but that can be quite hard at first, if your solo project is not known yet. But, if you have your old fans within your reach, then the risk can be way, way smaller. Personally I’ve been thinking about releasing a compilation c-cassette for some time now, but I’m still on the fence about the financial risk (not a huge one, but… if I end up having 100 cassettes at home and lose 500-800e of money, that’s not nice )… but I really want to do that at some point. I might even at first test the waters with some unique DIY tapes. But this said: what I’ve heard from my friends who have done it, they’ve sold all the tapes and vinyls everytime. BUT they also have bigger following than I do and they do gigs way more…
…which leads into: if you want to get any money, you need to do gigs, at least where I live, that’s the way. It’s mega hard to get any decent money generated nowadays just by making music, it’s just the hars truth. But, if you’re like me, and you just want to have fun and you have a “real job” you enjoy, you can drop gigs out of the equation and just do what you enjoy (unless you enjoy doing gigs of course).
This is what I’ve been thinking a LOT lately: taking the kind of a “zine” type of DIY route and make these unique c-cassettes, which are basically a run of 5 or 10 tapes, numbered by hand, hand drawn unique covers and so on. Your message gave me again a lil push towards trying this thing
I’m starting to think pre orders would work for musicians. You use pre orders to make limited runs and only fulfil them if you get enough pre orders to cover costs. Of course if you don’t reach the target everything gets refunded.
)… but I really want to do that at some point. I might even at first test the waters with some unique DIY tapes. But this said: what I’ve heard from my friends who have done it, they’ve sold all the tapes and vinyls everytime. BUT they also have bigger following than I do and they do gigs way more…
