Crowd-funded record label | Hacker News Reader

Crowd-funded record label

ourlabel.com

I run a small record label, one that I'd like to think acknowledges all the realities of trying to make and sell music in the post-Napster age.

My problem with something like this is, I suppose, my problem with Talent Shows, or "Vote For Your Favorite Artist!" contests on MTV, or American Idol: the wisdom of the crowds when applied to aesthetics produces inane garbage.

The purpose of art is to expand the human experience. Good bands shock and surprise you, give you new sensations in new ways. The best musicians produce intensely personal expressions of their own emotional reality, to which people with similar internal clockwork respond.

Bring everyone together to see which music they can agree on, and what they will end up picking is the average of all their emotional experiences, the music which relates only the most accessible and universal of concerns. Sorry, but even impeccably-crafted boring music is still boring.

To bring this down to Earth a bit: the future of music is disintegration, not centralization. It makes no sense for me to compete for eyeballs in a crowded marketplace when I can set up my own download site overnight and start getting in touch with blogs that directly address people who like the music I play.

Music will continue to niche down and atomize until there are taste-makers, distribution channels, and a healthy community of artists for every possible genre and sub-genre. My "conversion rate," so to speak, will be much higher on sites like these than it would be in giant competitive marketplaces like the one linked above.

OurLabel is not trying to be a online Talent Show, or even a "Vote for your Favorite Artist" contest. Instead it is a platform for artists to crowd-source the funding and promotion of their recording projects as well as a service that artists can use to gain support in the production, marketing, publishing, and distribution of their project. To put it in terms of things that already exists, its MySpace + Kickstarter + various support services + CDBaby.

Its not about bringing people together to see music they can agree on. Its about showcasing music of all types and letting people who are interested in, and/or fans of that music support it from start/finish.

I think you hit the nail right on the head with this statement: "the future of music is disintegration, not centralization"

Rather than making another "vote for your favorite," sites like OurLabel give a voice to the fans of niche genres. They can "take ownership" of music they like and be taste-makers, and then be rewarded for its success (even if it's just within a small niche and not a huge pop hit).

That is so true. There is a record label, my major company, built around this idea. While they produce great success and enjoyable music. when you listen to it it's like there is a lack of identity. Often times it's like I could have crafted those songs if I had sampled the best part of every pop record of the last twenty years

Not interested in signup forms. They're boring. Post when you actually have content.

This is as good a thread as any to say this:

I'm getting tired of these "launch to gauge interest or collect potential users" pages.

I've seen a lot of discussion and encouragement of these things, here on HN and related sites, within the last few months. It sounds like great advice and a good practice. It may even work. I signed up for one or two when I first started seeing them, in the context of "Oh, this is what those HN posts are talking about."

I don't bother anymore.

When I land on one of these, it leaves me absolutely cold. I click on a link because I'm interested, even excited in rare cases. These things throw cold water on me. "Here's a cool thing! ... But we'll show it to you later. !"

But that's me. If they work, great, I suppose. Maybe I'm not part of the desired demographic.

Fair enough. Just trying to get the idea out there and to spread the word, but will definitely post back soon when ready with content.

Here's a question:

What is your product? What value are you adding to the mix between a fan and an artist? How are you going to gauge success of that product? What metrics will you use to define what "success" is?

Are you there to be A&R? Crowdsource A&R? Promotions? Marketing? Publicity? Management?

What piece of the value chain do you want to lay claim to?

To echo a similar sentiment: labels, and actually more A&R (since they aren't all in labels) exist to elevate things from the mediocrity of the commons by virtue of the balance of taste and business. The best A&R guys right now? Lawyers and managers.

Thanks, those are great questions.

OurLabel is a platform that brings fans into the music-making process from discovery to funding to promotion. That covers a few different aspects of a traditional label. You could say it is crowdsourcing A&R. It is also crowdsourcing publicity by incentivizing fans to promote the releases via their social media channels. OurLabel plans to share 25% of net income from releases to fans who helped promote it (in the form of rewards such as music downloads, merchandise, concert tickets, etc.).

OurLabel is also a free service to funded artists in that it helps in the execution of the project by connecting the artists with the right resources (whether it be production, marketing, legal, distribution, etc.). OurLabel DOES NOT manage the artist. Also, it is important to note that this is done on an as-needed basis. We give artists all the freedom they want as well as the support they want.

To us, success is measured by getting new music, commissioned by fans, out to the market. We certainly take an active role in marketing the releases and aim to maximize their value, as it is in the collective interest of the artists, fans, and us that the releases sell more copies, get more licensing deals, etc.

Check out http://www.sonicangel.com/ which is very similar and started last year. They are already quite successful.

True, SonicAngel is very similar, but there are some huge differences as well, one of which is that every artist/band has an opportunity to produce an album if they raise the funds to do so. With SonicAngel you have to essentially be discovered/signed with SonicAngel to take advantage of the crowd-funding and some other site features.

I don't understand what it is needed for. What does a record label do these days? Not counting the few people who still want to buy actual records.

The key here is the hybrid-model (think Kickstarter + traditional label). Labels promote their artists. Very few artists succeed in do-it-yourself models like Kickstarter. They may be able to raise the money needed to record an album, but do they have the resources and expertise to market it on their own?

Secondly, getting the fans involved in the whole process is interesting (especially when they can derive rewards from their engagement). There are a lot of big music fans out there that would love to have a say and a piece in the action.

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