Ok this is probably old news to a lot of you but it’s important so don’t forget it.

You should NOT sign with a major record label. Getting your band signed is probably one of the worst things you can do.

First off when you get signed your music usually is then owned by the record label. Then even if you have a major hit you are likely to be broke anyway. The way these major labels act theses days is terribly predatory. In the end you don’t own your own music and they make all the money leaving you broke.

This is not what your fans want. Your fans want you to get the money so that you can keep on making the songs they love. You won’t get that with a major label.

These days it is a LOT easier to make ends meet with some grass roots marketing of your own. I’ll blog all about that as time permits. I’m not getting paid for this blog. It’s my public service since most of my friends are musicians and I am too so I can only devote bits here and there to it even though I wish I could make a guide all in one fell swoop.

Also did you know that you are going to have to pay to get your music on the radio? Yeah, they don’t want you to know that. If you are not a musician then please please turn off your radio. You are fueling the machine that is killing our art form. Listen to highschool radio or NPR or something but please don’t feed this wolf.

I could go on and on but I think Courtney Love really breaks it down in her speech “Courtney Love Does The Math”.

You can probably google it and find a transcript but in essence she explains how you’re basically screwing yourself with these major labels. Sure they make the hip hop guy look rich in the video and some of the more savvy ones who’ve done it on the indie tip have faired ok but this is not the norm.

Anyway, Google Courtney Love’s speech and read it and you’ll see it’s time for a change.

Not to fear… There are possibilities on the way for bands to get heard, and paid at the same time. I’ll have more on that as quickly as I can. I’m lacking an Internet connection at the moment and blogging from my phone so bear with me. In the meantime just don’t sign anything! I want to hear you making music next year not selling your gear for rent money!

Yours,
Brad

Email me at sumo911@hotmail.com if you want to post any solutions for musicians on my blog. Thanks!