As an Indie Artist, you probably already know that this is not even close to true!  In fact, research says exactly the opposite.

The first thing to begin to understand, is that you don’t have to be in any particular place in order to make it as a big time artist.  Research is pointing to the opposite.  Even the record companies and large entertainment industries are doing everything outside of New York and LA because it is too expensive.  They are going to places like Atlanta, Miami, even over seas to find the next greatest.  It’s cheaper and there isn’t as much competition.

The 21st century, from economics to social abilities is decentralized.  Between technology and abilities to travel, there is no need to be in a specific place.  So, save your rent money and stay where you are!  New York and LA is an overrated destination for any type of artist.

Many Indie artists think that to make it, you have to align yourself with a major record company. This is false. Even way back in the 50’s, your most powerful entity were independent labels which had a wealth of local talent to choose from and record. This is how Stax Records and Motown Records were created…through the spirit of independence. These labels started crashing when they aligned themselves with corporate entities. Sun Records and Sam Phillips, who was responsible for breaking in Elvis, Johnny Cash and others, started out as an indie label. Stax is the greatest example of powerful independent music label and operation that made a worldwide impact until the President started mingling with corporate distributors. I would advise any independent artist to read a copy of Rob Bowman’s book on Stax Records to see how an indie movement was undermined by the corporate big wigs.

There is now a chance for the Indie movement to come back like it did with Indie labels from the ‘50s.  With the knowledge, technology and possibilities that are now available, the Indie movement has the possibility to overcome major corporations and bring true music back to the stage.

This brings into mind the web portal of Taxi.

Taxi is a web portal that declares that it assists individual artists to get record deals, tips on songwriting and publishing. It has a wealth of resources, a musician’s database for collaboration and seminars that musicians can go to and meet with industry executives.

Some of the activities that Taxi has are commendable but at times, they seem to come across as a representative or an extended arm of the major record companies.

Do you really need Taxi to tell you whether you’re good or not? Shouldn’t your fan based determine whether they approve of your music or not? Taxi makes decisions based on business models that are traditional and right now, the business model is to sound like someone else. The music industry is a very cookie cutter industry to begin with and the statistics don’t lie.

Contrary to Taxi telling you that you can be the next hit maker, music industry sales over the past six years have dropped 20%. Why? It’s because of the lack of originality and everyone wanting to sound like someone else.

So if this is the case, what is Taxi really trying to do for you and tell you?

If you make music from the heart, someone is going to listen. Indie artist need to set up their own business models and not be dictated or influenced by representatives that really have the major labels best interest at heart.

Taxi has some good resources, but you don’t need their approval to do music or have an established career.

Before you even think of signing on the dotted line, consider what you will really be getting into. 

The rule of the ‘big four’ when signing a record deal is that the only thing you will make is royalties as the artist.  That means that the millions of dollars you may accumulate….go to everyone else first. 

Not only that, but if you don’t sell, it means that you are in debt to the record company.  You owe them for the recording time, songs they arranged, and all of the little details that go into making a song and marketing it. 

The recording industry, when looked at from a national level, is a business.  It is about cash flow going into everyone’s pockets, from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom.  As an artist, you will be the bottom. 

So, when the going gets tough as an Indie artist, remember that if you had decided to sign that record deal, things would be much worse. 

Those were the good old days. Today, in 2006, the ballgame is different.

Former President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which was basically the death blow to community radio stations. Corporate moguls, Clear Channel, started buying up mom and pop stations, upgraded the equipment and then, started dictating the play lists and the artists to be played. This left the local artist out in the cold.

In the old days, the local D.J. was the program manager. For these big corporate conglomerates, your program manager may be 300 miles away in another town. These big wigs don’t know your community and the communities listening style.

Radio was created to serve the community at large. Corporations have made much mint off of stripping communities of its sound that defined them. Can you imagine if this would have happened to the local radio scenes in Detroit, Memphis and Trenton N.J in the 60’s?

As an indie artist, there is still a way to get to your audience. Many cities still have thriving community radio scenes that play great indie music. You can find these stations on the internet by Googling “Community Radio Stations”.

Even though the corporate big wigs think that they are getting over, the community radio scene is going to come back through the Internet and alternate routes to getting heard.

Yeah partner! The record company said that they would take my masters and keep them for me! That is so sweet of them. They just know that we’re going to be the next hot band in America! They even advanced us 50,000 dollars to do the album, video, pay the producer and pay for a swanky spot in Beverly Hills while we record this!

Our agent is brilliant! He told the publishing company that we signed with that we don’t need a revision clause as far as publishing with them. It’s an 80-20 deal and that’s peanuts because we’re going to sell millions and millions of records! The record company is setting us up right now. We’ll be bigger than the other bands that came before us!

We owe them a CD every 8 months and if the previous one doesn’t sell, then they would take the profits from the second CD and put it towards the balance due for the first one not selling! Gee, this is great business practice.

I’ll let my manager and agent handle all the business stuff! I don’t have time for all of that. I’ve got songs to write and girls that will scream over me! Sometimes, I feel like I’m in jail, but at least the jail has a nice bed and is air conditioned.

As an indie artist, you need to master your career and be the master of your destiny.

As you are chasing your record deal, stop and think. Will you control the Master or will the Master control you?

Signing with a big label may seem like the key to riches, but in fact it may actually leave a band in a deeper financial hole than when they started out. To begin with, although big labels try to offer increased promotion to the acts they sign due to the clout gained by merger after merger and a general lack of diversity in terms of ownership in the radio market, the fact remains that most albums signed produced by a major label fail to generate any revenue.

So, if you are among the acts who does not make money for a big label, well at least you gave it a shot. No harm done, right? Wrong. You may not have sold your soul to get that deal, but big labels are all about a sneaky little thing called recoupable expenses. That’s right; in the end, all of the production, the touring support, the marketing are going to come out of the artists’ pocket anyway. If you happen to be in the greater percentage of artists who do not sell a ton of records, your debt will carry over to the next album.

Indie artists need to be very careful when the shark is circling in the water. The benefits of signing with a major label are generally not worth the risks. Remember, all of the “big” artists you hear about are success stories of the labels: those who end up indebted are never heard from.