It takes serious money to be a struggling musician

[DiMarco]

10 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Economic outlook isn't good. Home recording, producing and marketing is at your fingertips, better quality and cheaper than ever.... It could well happen soon! 

Edit: PINK FLUFFY UNICORNS DANCING ON RAINBOWS

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by DiMarco

[4000]

Well that went very far south very fast…. 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, 4000 said:

Well that went very far south very fast…. 

It’s the new, BC way sadly.      

[Dad3353]

10 minutes ago, ezbass said:

It’s the new, BC way sadly.      

I beg to differ; it's only a few that post in that way. The Forum is very good at self-moderation, so such outbursts sink quickly to the bottom. Ignore and carry on, there's so much better stuff to read. 

[Al Krow]

19 hours ago, 4000 said:

Well that went very far south very fast…. 

Yeah, but he's [edit: NO LONGER] got the makings of an angry young man ready to relaunch the punk era...😄 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Al Krow

[tegs07]

50 minutes ago, ezbass said:

It’s the new, BC way sadly.      

Hard to tell with the written word as no gestures or inflections to show humour. Could be tongue in cheek rather than anger. Always a big problem with digital communication.

[yorks5stringer]

58 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Well that went very far south very fast…. 

Dunno, The Netherlands are not that far away.

[LukeFRC]

whatever working class is in 2021, I'm pretty sure there's music being made and listened too, broadcast on pirate radio... it just probably doesn't sound like anything the average Basschat member would be into. 
If we set aside the class thing, even in the indie/rock/punk spheres that exist music is being made and released on more DIY or low key production spirit in local scenes around the UK. The problem probably isn't the music not existing, it's you not finding it and supporting it... 

My mate had a really interesting habit that I've tried to continue, I recommended a friends album - he listened to 60s of it and bought it on bandcamp on the basis it sounds good and I'm supporting music being made. It's a good habit to get into, like something, buy it on band camp (or similar) 

[meterman]

I flipping love permanently offended lgbtibbq+ blue haired vegan lesbian karens and their fake rock snowflake movements. Parklife!

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

I beg to differ; it's only a few that post in that way. The Forum is very good at self-moderation, so such outbursts sink quickly to the bottom. Ignore and carry on, there's so much better stuff to read. 

I stand/sit suitably admonished  You are quite correct, Dad. Unfortunately, the sudden outbursts that at least appear to drag threads down seem to stick in mind more than the overwhelming amount of positivity that abounds on BC.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

I stand/sit suitably admonished  You are quite correct, Dad. Unfortunately, the sudden outbursts that at least appear to drag threads down seem to stick in mind more than the overwhelming amount of positivity that abounds on BC.

... and breath..!  We (the Mods...) have got your back, anyway. 

...

 

[ezbass]

3 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

... and breath..!  We (the Mods...) have got your back, anyway. 

...

 

And we thank you for your service (genuine comment, no sarcasm).

[OliverBlackman]

8 hours ago, Crawford13 said:

I'm not sure that it matters greatly to a record label how much you have spent recording Demos, EP's etc, I would imagine what they are looking for is an engaged fan base, most likely judged by social media following.  To have a large following a lot of money has to be put into the marketing campaign, especially just now when there are less gigs around to build it organically.

Sadly to my knowledge this is not true. Record labels are after artists who they can just remaster a single/ EP and release.  This means less expenditure and therefore risk for them. If successful you will get a deal to record and release an album.
However, this is from a pop perspective and only based on my insiders experience. 

[Crawford13]

16 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

Sadly to my knowledge this is not true. Record labels are after artists who they can just remaster a single/ EP and release.  This means less expenditure and therefore risk for them. If successful you will get a deal to record and release an album.
However, this is from a pop perspective and only based on my insiders experience. 

Fair enough, that seems logical. However I still stand by my point to a degree, ie it makes no difference if the EP cost £5K or £5 if you don't have a fan base they are probably not interested. 

Also surely the rule of the marketing cost atleast 4X the recording costs means this is a bit of a moot point? 

[OliverBlackman]

1 minute ago, Crawford13 said:

Fair enough, that seems logical. However I still stand by my point to a degree, ie it makes no difference if the EP cost £5K or £5 if you don't have a fan base they are probably not interested. 

Also surely the rule of the marketing cost atleast 4X the recording costs means this is a bit of a moot point? 

In pop the fan base is mostly bought through marketing, which is why social media is so important. Other genres may differ, obviously rock is traditionally gig/ tour based. 
Pop artists are still found at 14-16 and work with management/ publishers before record labels release their music. 
But yeh, you can make a brilliant quality EP for free these days, but I’m not sure the producers the record labels hire to mix/ remaster will see it that way. On that point, you wouldn’t believe the prices to have your music remixed by a known DJ.

[uk_lefty]

10 hours ago, OliverBlackman said:

But yeh, you can make a brilliant quality EP for free these days, but I’m not sure the producers the record labels hire to mix/ remaster will see it that way. On that point, you wouldn’t believe the prices to have your music remixed by a known DJ.

Back to my vanity project statement though. If I want John Mayer to play 8 bars of lead on a track of mine I'm sure there's a price he'd do it for. Doesn't mean it will be any good (the track as a whole). 

[OliverBlackman]

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

Back to my vanity project statement though. If I want John Mayer to play 8 bars of lead on a track of mine I'm sure there's a price he'd do it for. Doesn't mean it will be any good (the track as a whole). 

Yeh totally agree. However, if it was released as artist X feat. John Mayer it’d be worth a fortune in ratings. 

Personally I would pay loads to see John Mayer play 8 bars in the studio.

[Marvin]

As with most ventures in life, it boils down to 'can you afford to fail?'. 

A lot of the artists that emerged in previous decades, some didn't have much to lose in the first place, and in the 70s and 80s the social security system wasn't as draconian and that gave just enough support to 'give it a go'.

But it's always been the case that if you've got parents with money you can risk failure much easier than if you haven't go wealthy parents. Take Richard Branson. He's always held up as a some self made entrepreneur... which he is if you overlook the small issue that he could always fall back on his wealthy background for support (his grandfather was a privy councillor).

Does it matter in music? If all we end up with is Coldplay, Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons....then yes it does.

That said I'm a Radiohead fan, and a Doves fan (Andy and Jez Williams' dad was a well known architect) and I hate with a passion Oasis...so perhaps it might be a good thing  

[Crawford13]

I'm not going to lie, I couldn't care less about the financial background of an artist / band. All I care about is the music.

Rich or poor what does it actually matter to the music? 

The one thing that hasn't been talked about on this thread yet is crowd funding. This seems to be very popular now, sell the album to the fans before it is made. If you have the fan base this works and you can cut out the labels altogether. 

[uk_lefty]

27 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

Yeh totally agree. However, if it was released as artist X feat. John Mayer it’d be worth a fortune in ratings. 

Personally I would pay loads to see John Mayer play 8 bars in the studio.

But who would release it if I was singing the verses and chorus and the lyrics were about something distasteful? Granted some die hard fans would buy it and it would get some clicks on YouTube but it wouldn't launch a career for me. I was about to say you can't polish a turd but then Cheryl Cole is always by knee jerk reaction to anyone using that phrase so... I'm undecided! 

[Waddo Soqable]

What Marvin says above resonates with me.. In the punk /post punk era most of the people in bands that I knew, including myself, were on the dole, and living in squats..I seem to recall a sum of £13.75 a week as the basic of the time ( a packet of fags was prob circa 20p tho, so it's all relative ! )  My dear old mum would occasionally bung me a few quid at a pinch too... but how cool would it have been to have had wealthy indulgent parents, the nearest to that I knew of was a mate who's dad gave him a couple of hundred ( a tidy sum then) so he and his band could do a "proper" 8 track demo !

[ezbass]

8 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

But who would release it if I was singing the verses and chorus and the lyrics were about something distasteful? Granted some die hard fans would buy it and it would get some clicks on YouTube but it wouldn't launch a career for me. I was about to say you can't polish a turd but then Cheryl Cole is always by knee jerk reaction to anyone using that phrase so... I'm undecided! 

But you can roll it in glitter.

[OliverBlackman]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

But you can roll it in glitter.

Turdjazzle?

[Al Krow]

23 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

Turdjizzle?

Fixed.

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

What Marvin says above resonates with me.. In the punk /post punk era most of the people in bands that I knew, including myself, were on the dole, and living in squats..I seem to recall a sum of £13.75 a week as the basic of the time ( a packet of fags was prob circa 20p tho, so it's all relative ! )  My dear old mum would occasionally bung me a few quid at a pinch too... but how cool would it have been to have had wealthy indulgent parents, the nearest to that I knew of was a mate who's dad gave him a couple of hundred ( a tidy sum then) so he and his band could do a "proper" 8 track demo !

I guess the question is - Would our current welfare state make any of this possible today?