If you are lucky, or is it unlucky, enough to get signed as an unknown artist you will probably remain unknown. Without having reached a considerably high level of career development on your own, labels are not remotely interested. Labels do not develop talent or careers anymore; they
know what the return on their investment must be before they commit.
This is their function. It is not a flaw in character. It is not underhanded or
heartless. It is just what they do and why they are in business. Labels do
not spend unlimited amounts of dollars on artists that no one knows about.
They don’t “break “artists they exploit the ones who are on the brink of
breaking. They will not spend money on tour support, advances, advertising, promotion and other necessities unless they are pretty damn sure that
they will recoup. They do not arrange for a feature slot on the next Bruno
Mars single or a tour with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis or for your videos to
be played in heavy rotation on MTV if no one knows who the hell you are.
In the long run, it’s up to you and it’s your job to lay the foundation, do the
heavy lifting and figure out how to build your career. So wake up and stop
talking about needing a record deal.
Stay tuned for the May 2014 for the continuation of this
article...
Camille is a music industry professional with over 20
years of experience. She has worked for major labels
such as Sony and Universal, Warner Chappell and
other major publishers, owned two state of the art recording studios, developed and managed high profile
artists such as Madonna, produced major concerts
and provided music for major motion pictures such
as Scream, Steven Spielberg Productions and Cinepix
Films. She has conducted numerous seminars, panels
and workshops at SXSW, the New Music Seminar and
other industry conferences. She has been featured in
many books and has appeared on many news and
talk shows. Camille consults via her company, C.Barbone & Associates and is the Principal of Creative
Career Coach, a service that provides guidance and
structure to those aspiring to successful careers in the
Entertainment Industry. Contact Camille at camille@
creativecareercoach.net.
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