Falcon

If I ever signed a record deal, I'd do it on my terms. I've spent a lot of time trying to school myself in the new business trends and can only say that the little guy has more power and options than ever.
The demise of music sales is clear and in my eyes a problem that is mostly affecting the large companies and their star power. The bands I've known and worked with never really made money from selling music and when they did it was from the direct selling of their music at their shows. If a solid and professional touring band sells 10k copies of a record, you can bet that at least 2500 were purchased directly from the band. These copies are advanced to the band from the label at a cost of about 4-6 bucks a pop. My thinking is that I'd rather press my own copies, a 'tour edition' on my bands own label. Why not? Instead of coming home and owing a lot of money to the label, we could use the extra income to pay rent or buy a new van. We could even go to the track! The point is that If I
ever signed a record deal, I'd insist on retaining the rights to selling my music exclusively at all my shows. I still believe in Indy labels and go record shopping when I can afford it. But I've always felt good about buying records directly from the band at their shows. Bands need labels for distro and connecting with people that are in record stores.Remember those places? But in this day and age...bands don't really need a label to sell music at their shows. Especially when your established a bit.