starting your label?

[Of Divine Nature]

hey scott and any others knowledgeable in this field, how exactly did you go about creating your label, and getting it to where it is now? also, what type of legal stuff do you have to do, and how do you get distribution? how much does it cost you to run this label and how much money did you start it with? what about printing more releases before you had a distribution deal? and more questions along these lines.

hope ya don't mind answering some time, i'm very interested in all the aspects of starting and running a label as i'm wanting to do it myself at some point. cheers.

[Brutal Bands]

hey scott and any others knowledgeable in this field, how exactly did you go about creating your label, and getting it to where it is now? also, what type of legal stuff do you have to do, and how do you get distribution? how much does it cost you to run this label and how much money did you start it with? what about printing more releases before you had a distribution deal? and more questions along these lines.

hope ya don't mind answering some time, i'm very interested in all the aspects of starting and running a label as i'm wanting to do it myself at some point. cheers.

There's really two ways to start a label. One way is to start it out as a distro, buying up releases from other labels slowly and building up a reputation and your distro. Then once you made enough money find a good band to sign. Or the second way, which is how BB was started, just find a band to sign and front all the money needed to do this.

Luckily I also play guitar for Incinerate, and I was able to convince my band to allow a new start up label to sign them. So that's how I attained my first band. Once you do that, you need to then decide if you're going to be a trade label or non-trade label.

If you're a trade label, then you would contact as many labels as possible to try to trade out your release(s) with them. You then sell your release(s) as well as the releases from other labels you got from trades. You also make other merch such as shirts, stickers, etc and sell it.

If you're going to be a non-trade label then I imagine you would need to push your release(s) on to large distributors with hopes that they will buy hundreds of CDs from you and distribute them. I don't know much about non-trade labels as BB is and will always be a trade label (regardless of how much distro we get from larger distributors).

How much does it cost to run a label? That depends on how much you want to spend, how far you want to take things. Starting out with your first release, just to press the CD can average around $1500. Once you're label is built up more, you might find yourself spending around $10,000 on a release, which can include the CD, shirts, posters, stickers, flyers, advertising, promotional CDs, distribution (shipping) costs, etc.

How much can you make running a label. Here again, all depends on how much you put into it, the bands on your label, how well things our going for the label, and a little luck always helps too. Luck has been my friend on a few occasions. I know many people that run their label and are able to make a living off of it. I know others that choose to keep their day job. A lot depends on your standards of living, bills, responsibilities, family, etc.

Well anyways, I hope this general information helps. If you have more specific questions, let me know and I'll try to answer them, and long as they don't go into any details that would be deemed confidential.

[InvoluntarySlaughter]

Dude, Scott, having read that, I have a new respect for what you do. I already respected your buisness and you, but dude, that would be the most stressful job ever man. God, I don't know how you do it man.

[Of Divine Nature]

sweet. thanks for the quick reply. i'm in the same situation you were in when starting your label. once i have my album recorded i want to release it myself and do the trade label thing. did you have to learn any type of legal stuff or do any legal stuff to register your label as a source of income? if it can be discussed what type of stuff do you usually offer a band on a contract? any lawyer involvement? as a business that does lots of shipping do you have a deal with any shipping companies? i'm sure i'll have more questions but that's it for right now.

[Darkstone]

I can fill in a couple of blanks (just browsing though the forums, so please answer also scott) but hre in Australia, you must have your business name 'label name' registered with the government / tax authorities as a legal source of income.

I would recommend seeing an entertainment lawyer for all things concerned with music contracts / ideas / plans / investments etc.. They will be able to point you in the right direction (for a price.. always remember that!)

As for shipping, i haven't heard of a label having a del with a certain postal company, but surely enough the bigger ones must have something worked out.

And as scott stated: You only get what you put into this sort of business, and it's highly recommened you speak with professionals to make sure you dont get caught out yourself.

I hope this helps..

[Brutal Bands]

sweet. thanks for the quick reply. i'm in the same situation you were in when starting your label. once i have my album recorded i want to release it myself and do the trade label thing. did you have to learn any type of legal stuff or do any legal stuff to register your label as a source of income? if it can be discussed what type of stuff do you usually offer a band on a contract? any lawyer involvement? as a business that does lots of shipping do you have a deal with any shipping companies? i'm sure i'll have more questions but that's it for right now.

Yes, ideally you should register your label as a business with the state you operate out of. And yes, you "should" keep track of all money going out and coming in for tax purposes. But, I'm not going to make any hard suggestions in this area. What you choose and how you choose to handle this area is up to you.

I really can't discuss the contents of our contracts with the general public. All labels operate different in this area. But good bands usually require decent offerings in a contract. If you find a band you want to sign, one thing you can try is to find out what they want in a contract first before making an offer. That way you can at least get an idea of what they are hoping for or expecting.

As for shipping, I simply use the US post office for most things. Sometimes I may need to ship huge packages (with say shirts and CDs) to say Europe to a band, then I usually use FedEx as they come with reliable international tracking and they seem to be cheaper than UPS.

[scheeOHlee]

This is good information, but I also had some questions in regards to running a label/distro if you wouldnt mind answering them.

-How important is knowing how html and being able to design the site yourself?

-Should one expect to pay alot of money starting up?

-Can you recommend any books/sites/classes that can give more insite.

thanks man!

[Brutal Bands]

This is good information, but I also had some questions in regards to running a label/distro if you wouldnt mind answering them.

-How important is knowing how html and being able to design the site yourself?

-Should one expect to pay alot of money starting up?

-Can you recommend any books/sites/classes that can give more insite.

thanks man!

Well for BB I have found that knowing HTML (and other web based programming languages are a huge plus) has been very important. I have designed all versions of the BB web site over the past 4 years, each time trying to add improvements to it. Making it easy and convenient for people to purchase your products on the web is a very good idea.

Start up money - all depends on what your doing. Starting up a distro costs way less money than starting up a label. With a distro its all about purchasing CDs wholesale from labels. Best idea here is to purchase from the labels with the good releases. You could get a pretty descent start on a distro for probably $500 - purchasing releases from 4 or 5 labels putting out the better releases that will sell. Starting a label is actually far more work and if you do it right, could usually cost at least a few thousand to get it up and running and that's with just one release out on your label. Some people will start with a distro, and when they've made enough money, they will start up a label with that money.

I don't know of any books or other teachings for starting up an underground label. But my advice to anyone out there - start up a distro!!! Not a label. There are already more labels in this world than the underground knows what to do with. But with distros (places to by stuff from), there can never be too many of them. More advice - treat your customers like they are important to you and ship their orders out quickly.

Here's how it works with BB - customers come first over anything else. Without customers, you're not making money. If your not making money, your not expanding (growth) your distro (no new products) or label (no new releases, not signing bands) and without new products (or releases / bands) then there soon will be no distro/label.

[scheeOHlee]

cool man, thanks!

[Gerard]

Not only should your distro (provided that you're taking that route towards ending up with a label) be available on the web. I recommend taking it on the road as many times as possible.

That way you'll get to interact with the people that might end up being your online buyers, and it'll help you to build a name for yourself more quickly than sitting around at the computer will do for you. I make it a priority to be on the road with my bands whenever I can. Easy for me to say, I know, since the band count on Deity Down Records so far has risen to 2.

Regarding the remarks about customers: take those very seriously. One dissatisfied customer can ruins lots more for you than a thousand good ones can make up for (so to speak). Providing the best service you possibly can, and preferrably beyond, is your ultimate goal in that matter.

The same goes for the bands that end up being signed to your label in my opinion. Do what you promise, and if you even remotely think you're going to promise something you may not be able to live up to, don't make that promise.

[grindwork]

This is some great info, and will come in very hand for anyone with interest in getting started with a Distro/Label.

:)