3 ms·

"Everyone can distribute" only if they're willing and competent to take on the jobs of marketing and distribution. Having heard much the same argument in relati

"Everyone can distribute" only if they're willing and competent to take on the jobs of marketing and distribution. Having heard much the same argument in relation to writers and self-publishing, it's a complete nonsense. Do you really want your favourite artist to spend 80% (arb. number made up for illustration) of their time doing stuff (marketing, that they are quite likely not much good at) or would you rather see them spend the time on the stuff they are good at -- the art? There's reasons these publishing/distribution industries exist, and I'd not wish their work on artists. The art is hard enough to do on it's own.

kortilla 5y ago
The same thing can be said for the travel agency industry. The bar for publishing has significantly reduced so really it’s a question of the marketing piece you mentioned. Does an artist really need to sell to a label just to get marketing?
- mikro2nd 5y ago
  What I'm trying to say (poorly) is this: every hour the artist has to spend on doing marketing (probably not well) is an hour they're NOT spending on their art. Me, I'd prefer to see them arting. (Not sure I understand your reference to the travel industry so well, but that's just me being dim.)
  - leviathant 5y ago
    Exactly! I'm probably commenting more deeply in this thread than is helpful, but my wife is a successful composer and DIY just. doesn't. scale. Even if you're not just coasting on some variation of financial inheritance, you can absolutely hustle - and if you get to a certain level of popularity, before you know it, you're spending most of your week answering emails and phone calls. For my wife, it was the pandemic, of all things, that pulled her out of this problem, because she got a PPP loan from the federal government, which gave her enough margin to finally hire a part-time personal assistant. Which in turn helped her get even more work. It's been real wild to watch. I still think that if you scramble, you should take on as much work as you (or your group) can handle DIY, so that you have leverage when the publishers and the record labels start paying attention. But if you want to be able to continue to make music after seeing some of that success, you'll start to understand why 'the industry' exists.
rdiddly 5y ago
Some portion of the marketing work is necessary only because it's a big company that needs to keep going. When your costs are low, you can be more grass- roots about it.

kortilla 5y ago

The same thing can be said for the travel agency industry. The bar for publishing has significantly reduced so really it’s a question of the marketing piece you mentioned. Does an artist really need to sell to a label just to get marketing?

mikro2nd 5y ago
What I'm trying to say (poorly) is this: every hour the artist has to spend on doing marketing (probably not well) is an hour they're NOT spending on their art. Me, I'd prefer to see them arting. (Not sure I understand your reference to the travel industry so well, but that's just me being dim.)
- leviathant 5y ago
  Exactly! I'm probably commenting more deeply in this thread than is helpful, but my wife is a successful composer and DIY just. doesn't. scale. Even if you're not just coasting on some variation of financial inheritance, you can absolutely hustle - and if you get to a certain level of popularity, before you know it, you're spending most of your week answering emails and phone calls. For my wife, it was the pandemic, of all things, that pulled her out of this problem, because she got a PPP loan from the federal government, which gave her enough margin to finally hire a part-time personal assistant. Which in turn helped her get even more work. It's been real wild to watch. I still think that if you scramble, you should take on as much work as you (or your group) can handle DIY, so that you have leverage when the publishers and the record labels start paying attention. But if you want to be able to continue to make music after seeing some of that success, you'll start to understand why 'the industry' exists.

rdiddly 5y ago

Some portion of the marketing work is necessary only because it's a big company that needs to keep going. When your costs are low, you can be more grass- roots about it.