M PIRE DROPS
GEMS
Do You Really Need A Record Deal?
(Cont’d from the February 2014 Issue)
By Camille Barbone
If you don’t have a core audience, if you don’t have thousands of thousands of Facebook likes, if your YouTube videos have not been viewed by millions, if you can’t sell out
a small to mid-size venue, if you don’t have any sales or advertising revenue to speak of;
digital downloads, advertising income from streaming sites, if your swag doesn’t sell and
you don’t get tons and tons of email from fans, it’s not time to go label shopping. It is way
too early. It’s time to go to work!
You don’t need a recording contract you need to become a recording artist. Commit
to getting out there on your own steam, with friends and family helping you, with an investor and real believers at your side. You have to act as if every time you put a song on
Soundcloud, or upload to CD Baby or Amazon.com, you are the record company and
y ou must promote, develop, exploit and market yourself. If you don’t know the ropes, find
someone who does. They are out there. You just have to look. You just have to ask. It’s
R&D time. So get busy and find out what you need to do to make a living by doing what
you love to do. You will be learning while you are doing. Eventually you will be earning
while you are doing. There are coaches you can talk to, people who will charge you a
couple of hundred dollars to give you what you need to get started. Go back when you
need more info but you have to move this dream along or give it up. You don’t need a
record deal, not yet. (Cont’d)
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