As a singer/songer writer the main advice I keep geting given is release something yourself - even a band I know which had alot of media interest from nme and other music magazine is being told to get an ep out yourself

It seems the days of a label signing you because they liked your music are long gone

I agree. Record companies want you to do all the work -so what are they doing? No wonder the music industry is in such a state and real talent is not being found and promoted.

a lot of unsigned artists stay that way because they are quite simply not good enough

the cream will rise to the top at the end of the day....

It could be to gauge interest, it could be a polite way of saying "no thank you",it could be to see if you can accomplish a task.

If that's what people are asking for ours is not to reason why, ours is to do...

BTW You do have your songs recoded don't you?

The competition is so high for the so few, that, are not only talented enough, but commited enough AND meet the requirements of a crowded and slow selling market place.

Revvolution Records is doing so well that iTunes now accounts to us monthly and we just got a nice fat cheque for MAY.

Mind you, back catalogue helps though I'm expecting a healthy royalty for my Harold Shipman track, downloaded a lot in July, viewed by over 26,000 in a month on YouTube, with hundreds of comments (most of the obscene ones deleted).

Likewise healthy downloads for Satan's Ultimate Weapons of Mass Destruction and several other Earth To King tracks shaping up very nicely include VILE PERVERT (I do like that title), He Stood In The Bath And He Stamped On The Floor (ditto) and Mary My Love (sorry Mart).

Mart and my favourite from the collection, When Caravaggio Met Michelangelo, is rather slow but like the tortoise and the hare...

I agree 100% with herewegoagain.

I do think that if an act is truely good they are going to get a lot of attention.

I also agree with doing it for oneself, however that can mean a lot of things in varying degrees. I mean Mike Batt and Katie did it themselves didn't they, so to speak.

But that took a great deal of money, and Mike had it.

If the money question is not asked and answered to begin with then an act is doomed. Just my experience!

Not everyone has what it takes to run a label, even if it is just for one act. However it does make a lot of sense bringing the business as far as you possibly can before being picked up. I know a number of acts that earn a decent living from running their own affairs. But they will never hit the big time like that. There are limits to the DIY path.

herewegoagain wrote:
a lot of unsigned artists stay that way because they are quite simply not good enough

the cream will rise to the top at the end of the day....

Agreed - it is much harder these days though.
With downloads any "label" can stick-up a track and its competing with all the rest !

Oh for the 60's when there were only about 60 releases a week !