What are the chances of my band getting signed?

[blubass]

Getting signed does ease a lot of those stresses. My band has done the DIY route, while trying to get signed. We had to obtain an Itunes deal when they weren't giving it out to everyone. We paid for three national tours, and several west coast runs on our own. We paid for our first CD with packaging, all merch designs, and printed runs. So yes, it does cost a lot of money. All that said, if someone has the money to do all that, then by all means, DIY!!!!!!!!! As long as your band is in demand and you are making an appreciable amount of money on the road, then you are as good as signed.

[southshoreconor]

Originally Posted by blubass

As long as your band is in demand and you are making an appreciable amount of money on the road, then you are as good as signed.

+1

however, one thing i like about having a label/management/booking agents on our side is so that we can focus on just playing shows and writing songs- really being a full time band. because when you're doing it yourself, it may feel like it's taking up all your time, but how much of that is spent on the phone with promoters, chasing emails, designing and ordering merch etc? its a huge weight off your shoulders to have a hardworking record company behind you.

[blubass]

I agree, hence the reason my band is signed now as well.

[calebbarton]

DONT DO IT! read some posts by steve albini. might change your mind. http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

[agreatheight]

I recently formed a small indie and I wouldn't sign you guys... yet. You have a lot of raw talent and some interesting ideas, but you need a little focus and quite a bit of tightening before I would invest in you. In a year or so, my answer could be different.

Oh, and DYI takes a lot of time, research, intelligence, effort and luck. It certainly can be very rewarding, but there are a lot of mistakes to make.

Keep working!

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by agreatheight

DYI takes a lot of time, research, intelligence, effort and luck. It certainly can be very rewarding, but there are a lot of mistakes to make.

No different than dealing with a major label but if you DIY the benefits can be more rewarding in the end.

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by blubass

How many tours have you been on where you haven't been paid? In my opinion, if you are proving to a record label that you can tour, then you might do a couple of free tours out of your own pocket, but if you are touring for a living, and not getting paid, then you aren't booking your shows right.

I'm familiar with many bands who tour and pretty much live hand to mouth while on the road. Some bands do have backing. Most of the unsigned bands that I know who can support themselves on the road and still have something to show for it at the end of the day are the one's I spoke about in my original post: The ones that play in clubs and have hours worth of cover material in addition to their own original music. Many of the bands I know of that are unsigned and touring by playing 45 minute sets with other bands are living on Ramen noodles.

[Will!!!]

I only know one band that makes a living from their music without touring nine months out of the year.
They are unsigned and it is working great for them.
They are not getting rich or anything, but they're making more money than at least half of the folks I know with day jobs.
The only good thing about the time I was on Metal Blade was the advance we got for our album. Their promotion for our tour was non-existent, the press they got us in the US was pretty scant. In fact, we got better promotion ourselves than Metal Blade did for us.
I think we would have sold more stuff on a smaller label, as well.
Anyhow, here is a little adage for our young friend who wants to get signed....
YOU HAVE TO GO TOUR.
Yes, there are exceptions to this rule. But they are EXTREMELY infrequent.
So, you have to buy a van. Your label isn't going to buy you one until you have been touring for a while and they know you can live that life.
Well, you and your bandmates scrimp and save and scour craigslist and yo find a van.
More likely than not, this van is as old as you are. Considering your age, it will probably be older than you are.
We'll say that you hooked up with someone who booked your tour for you. It may even be a friend who books other bands. Whoever it is, they don't give a **** how many all night drives you make or anything like that.
Anyhow, we'll fast forward two weeks into your tour.
You and your bandmates have spent all of the personal money you have on too much partying the first few days and gas for the last six. Because in the last six days, you had to drive through five states, two shows fell through, and four didn't pay you because no one came out.
But you have three hundred in the band account that you saved for emergencies.
Did you remember to pack a manual for your van, a decent tool set, a jack, and some jack stands?
Because your transmission just blew third gear.
"But Will, we have to take it to a shop. We don't know how to do that."
Well, guess what, bucko? You're gonna learn.
Your in luck. The local junkyard has one for $225.
After you get the transmission in and fill up the fluid, you'll still have $50 left!

This is a true story, by the way.

My point being, your gonna work hard and suffer for your music.
I know it has already been said, but it bears repeating.
You're not going to get three squares a day. Some days, you may not even get one.
You are going to get to venues on fumes, knowing that if you don't make x amount of dollars that night, you're gonna be panhandling at a rural truckstop somewhere.
You're gonna wear dirty clothes and not shower for days on end.
You're gonna get in fights with your bandmates and say some of the most uncalled-for things to them that you will ever say to anybody.
You're gonna sleep in hovels, hosted by some of the weirdest and/or creepiest people you will ever meet.
If you get on a big indie or a major, some people from your label are going to be the sleaziest people you'll ever meet who will blow the most smoke up your ass.
People are going to screw you over every chance they get.

Does that sound like fun? That is how most of the folks I know who are signed started on the path to getting there.
I know a lot of other folks who took that path and nothing happened for them.
I've been going down that road for the last eleven years and I've been having the time of my life, in spite of all of the bad things. I've learned so much and met so many great people and bands. I've seen and done things I will NEVER forget and some that I will NEVER speak about except for with the folks who were there.
I've learned more about the Chevy 292 and Dodge 318 than I ever wanted to know.

So , yeah. You're chances of getting signed and making a living without some really hard living are probably .001%.

[Valerus]

Depressing.

[southshoreconor]

anyone who's interested, (punk, hardcore, indie, whatever) our new label just made the official statement about signing my band.

http://www.bridge9.com/energy check it out.

[jomahu]

Originally Posted by southshoreconor

anyone who's interested, (punk, hardcore, indie, whatever) our new label just made the official statement about signing my band.

http://www.bridge9.com/energy check it out.

awesome, man.

it's prolly nice when a label works with you and not against you.

[southshoreconor]

Originally Posted by jomahu

awesome, man.

it's prolly nice when a label works with you and not against you.

chris and karl have been super supportive of us for the past year or so. its the perfect match for us. and hey if you live in town, you should go see us saturday in Allston.

[Low_End_IIA_Vic]

i should have put on my flak jacket

[WarriorJoe7]

Well please tell us if we indeed turn out to be wrong. If you get signed come back and dispel any myths that might be here (or things that have changed.) I would personally love to hear from a band that makes it and actually doesn't get screwed.

Have you been signed yet and if so how goes it? If not but still the possibility then please come back later and let us know what the real deal is.

Originally Posted by Low_End_IIA_Vic

i should have put on my flak jacket

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by WarriorJoe7

Well please tell us if we indeed turn out to be wrong. If you get signed come back and dispel any myths that might be here (or things that have changed.) I would personally love to hear from a band that makes it and actually doesn't get screwed.

Have you been signed yet and if so how goes it? If not but still the possibility then please come back later and let us know what the real deal is.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Low_End_IIA_Vic

i should have put on my flak jacket

Did you really expect everyone to say, "Oh wow! Your music is so great you should be signed immediately!"?

People were being honest with you. Talent has F-all to do with whether you get signed or not. What matters is money and how much of it you have to grease palms.

[dj150888]

Actually, my own band got signed recently to a very small label (Eyes Like Snow, who are a division of Northern Silence Productions) and I must admit, though they're not doing much for us in the way of getting us gigs directly, they're really working their balls of promoting our latest CD and they've made the deal very rewarding on our part (we get a cut of their sales, we're allowed to sell 1000cds privately at live shows without them taking a cut) and their distribution network stretches much further than ours does.

Though anyone who thinks getting on a label means instantly becoming famous etc etc will be sorely disappointed, not much changes that quickly BUT having press packs sent out by your label will be noticed more than the 10,000 DIY press packs various promoters and festival promoters get. I'm fairly certain the festival slot we're playing in Greece in March was landed 50% because the promoter actually liked us and 50% because we were on a label. People (sometimes falsely) associate being on a label with professional, talented bands.

All in all, prematurely getting signed can be the biggest mistake your band makes, you'll get a really **** contract if you're willing to take the first that comes along, though I believe you can only progress so far without needing some help, be that from a label or from management and neither of them will be doing any of the work for you, it'll all be to line their pockets.


To the OP, to be honest, that kind of music REALLY isn't my thing so I don't know the market appeal for it but its seems to be very popular at the minute. The only opinion I can give is that if you're sure you want to start looking for a label, you need to get a better quality recording and do some more work on the songs, they sound a tad generic to me and a little sloppy in places. No offense intended there, just honest constructive critique.

[dj150888]

Another thing we did was to pay for the recording ourselves and just use the label for distribution (though they were willing to pay for recording, we had the cash to pay for it), because of this, we've kept all the rights to our music and they have the right to sell the number of copies agreed to with us and nothing else. The label get their cut from the CDs they sell, nothing else (and yes, we've had people much more experienced than us in the music industry and a solicitor look over the whole thing to make sure there was no small print to tie us any further than we realised)