Record Companies are no Longer Required?
With the decreasing cost of digital recording equipment more and more bands are turning to self produced record labels leading to the question of how the major labels will take up the challenge. Here is an example of one UK band who are doing it for themselves. UK-based band Philanthropy have just completed their their “Rocktember” tour of venues around London and are a good example of a self produced band. They are a 5 piece guitar-based Indie/Rock band who will proudly show you (and sell you) their debut album, entitled "Dead Dogmas," which is released by their record company PDL Records.
(PRWEB) September 30, 2006 -- UK-based Indie Rock band release their debut album to critical acclaim and strong sales both on download and physical CD. However, the band is signed to a very small indie label, so how do they achieve such success?
The music industry is going through a tumultuous period of change, with vinyl sales going back up, CD sales falling, downloads increasing, sharing of music files continuing and all the time Myspace and other web sites allowing bands unprecedented levels of exposure. Amidst all of this the traditional major labels are trying to hold onto a market that is more slippery than a snake on plane with suntan oil going on its hols.
More and more local bands are turning to low cost, but still high quality, digital recording options, which can range from a simple MP3 recorder in a bedroom to a full multi-track setup costing a few thousand pounds. The results are graded according to cost and the operator's knowledge of how to get the best from their equipment, but the results are sometimes hard to distinguish from a full-on professional recording.
UK-based band Philanthropy have just completed their their “Rocktember” tour of venues around London and are a good example of a self produced band. They are a 5 piece guitar-based Indie/Rock band who will proudly show you (and sell you) their debut album, entitled "Dead Dogmas," which is released by their record company PDL Records. They are very happy to have been “signed” by a label that allows them full artistic control of their music and direction, but question them a little more, and you will discover that PDL records is owned and operated by the father of one of the band members, and that the recording and production was performed by Olli Daffarn, band member and son of the owner of PDL records.
Peter Daffarn said, “Olli was about to complete his A Level Music Tech course and having used the college equipment to record and produce tracks for a number of bands he realised that when he left that would all stop. So we looked at the costs involved and discovered that for under £5,000 you can have a semi professional recording setup using ProToolstm software. At the same time Olli joined Philanthropy and we used the new equipment to record Dead Dogmas.
"Having recorded the album and produced the master we looked around for a reliable and cost effective CD duplication service. Once this was achieved the next step was to get the album available for download. This proved relatively easy if a little slow but now Dead Dogmas is available for download from all the major sites and the band get the money directly. Sales of the album are strong and downloads are increasing as more people become aware of Philanthropy.”
This story is by no means unique and reflects the dilemma that the major labels face -- by the time they are ready to sign an up-and-coming band, that band may be unwilling to lose the direct control they have enjoyed to date, and may prefer to continue on their own Indie label.
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