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[b]DJones wrote:[/b]
[quote]These costs are falling in the digital age. Recording and production fees can be extraordinarily cheap, depending on the level of sophistication desired. Tech-savvy artists can further cut costs with a good laptop and ProTools.

(...)

Yet the reality is that no act has carved out a lucrative career doing all this on its own. Many point to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah as a DIY success story. And while it's true that the band declined to sign to a label for either its 2005 self-titled debut or its sophomore album, &quot;Some Loud Thunder,&quot; released January 30, the band did secure major-label-affiliated distribution through the Alternative Distribution Alliance. After capitalizing on blog buzz the first time around and selling more than 125,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the band has sold only 29,000 copies of its follow-up so far.

(...)

But since MySpace began offering the service as a &quot;soft launch&quot; in December, few artists have adopted it. Among the top 20 unsigned acts on MySpace, none have a MyStore module on their profile page. SnoCap, the company that operates the service, in late January lowered its per-track commission from 45 cents to 39 cents to spur more adoption.
Denters, for one, has her fans -- both virtual and real. Two YouTube fans, who have posted multiple videos of themselves singing along to her songs, took the time and effort to meet her at the airport in New York when she arrived in the United States in early February. Despite having no idea what flight she was on, they showed up at John F. Kennedy International Airport with &quot;Welcome Esmee&quot; signs, waiting as passengers from virtually every flight from Europe arrived until Denters appeared.

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2518918320070226[/quote]

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Topic History of: Independent Promotion in the UK - thoughts
Max. showing the last 5 posts - (Last post first)

Author	Message
bemuso	DJKZ wrote:Watch the explosion of independent music as AIM takes on...[/quote] The explosion of independent music is happening with or without AIM. The indies are the 5th major with or without Merlin. But AIM is not working in the interests of the independent community. Is the AIM agenda still the independent agenda? I don't think so. When AIM started out it was the mini-BPI for labels aspiring to be majors. It then grew to focus on representing the interests of indies, and improved considerably. It has now reverted to type and is once again representing a narrow membership.
JB	very interesting dicussion. I know of act, now platinum in the UK, whose indie label sold 70,000 units before being licensed to a Major. They managed to get a well respected and succesful plugger on board for points of the album,with no fees. The same scenario with the press. They had no money after production of the album. Ultimately they lost out on royalties but they firmly believe there wouldn't have been any royalies had there not been a promo team invoved. This was 3 years ago, before the power that the internet currently commands. It took my associates two years, several sleepness nights and a bag full of belief, but they did it. The act last year sold out Brixton Academy two night on the bounce, so it is possible, however unlikely do launch an act without marketing spend.
Big End	you read my mind and at least part of my fiendish plan GG. Slow burns can mean big hits if the record's up to speed and people like it. I believe "Don't Impress me Much" took a dance mix and year to break in the UK. And let's face it, Mutt Lange ain't too shabby!
GG (producer)	In response to manager man's query, I'm going to chime in here........In order to get an independant release to stand out its going to take daily web promotion. I know the majors have and had been doing this for some time, wether or to the extent they want to admit it, I don't know. Worst case in point being Geffen's bombarding the internet with false positive reviews on Ashlee Simpsons first album (before it reached the stores) by hired spam teams posing as teenagers, on every internet forum in the demographic. This happened. What this means now and for independent music is someone or a team of people sitting in front of a computer and directing a release to many many sites. AND I don't mean mindlessly virally doing this. I mean some kind of planning as to where the promotion is directed. I've seen this done by someone with a marginal act, and it got them somewhere. Ultimately the song and the talent should win out in this situation, and if its not good enough the public will let you know. One can hire a smart kid for 10 bucks an hour to do this a couple of hours a day monday through friday. If its planned correctly you would be surprised how far this can get you. I suppose it could fall into the catagory of one of the ways an act builds a fan base in 2007. This is part of the new world we live in. As Big End says a couple of posts down, it does take balls and will as well.
Big End	very true Manager Man, however, you could just as easily argue that anyone can shove a band together. The point is working hard on things to get a great record together and then work it on a slow burn with at least something of a promo budget. As it starts to go, maybe shove some more money in the pot and so on. It's just a matter of having the will and the balls to do it. There is also that word of mouth buzz that costs absolutely zippo. That is one area where I know I can hit hard.