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Posted by Bolts on June 15, 2000 at 13:45:45:

In Reply to: Re: Couple thoughts... posted by BananaHead on June 15, 2000 at 12:17:59:

People can say, "I'll start my own label, or sign with this indie, and in both cases I'll have to work my ass off on printing, running the studio, phone calls, in the stock room, booking" etc., in other words, work hard at all the non-musical stuff, all in order to reach a specific cult of a few thousand fans OR sign with Mr. Slick from Big Label, "a-and they'll get me a tour bus, new amps, hotel rooms, carry our dope, etc. Sure, we'll have to humiliate ourselves playing the Pepsico MTV Beach Frat Party, but hey, now I can get a table at..." And so it does come down to motivation and to a lesser, but not insignificant extent, principles.

I guess the best and worst of all possible worlds is the scenario where an artist, having achieved success as an indie artist, now has the leverage to construct a deal of their own, thereby hopefully assuring their members and their families' future security. But you notice how infrequently this pans out for such an artist. They either have to homogenize their material in order to meet their label's expectations, or they wind up just as beholden to the company as any new artist. Worse, they soon drop back into the indie world with their "credibility" (such as it is) somewhat shot. Hole is a great example of this. As an indie band they'd probably have had a decent little niche for themselves. However, Ms. Love wanted to be a household name! (Now she is, but definitely not because of her music). And Hole is considered, by major label standards, a failure--a stigma they don't really deserve. [REM is the only group I can think of who worked out colossal deals in advance, winding up selling very "few" records--the last of the "prestige" artists so prevalent in earlier times.] The other prob is why should a major sign a deal with an established indie artist when they can get the next one hit wonder for much less, and make more?

So I love the idea of true independent distribution: if it were successful, heads would indeed roll at the majors and there would be a lot of re-thinking and restructuring. But as long as artists continue to give themselves away to such entities, these entities will find a way to subsume independents. I suppose that's just the way it is.

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Follow Ups:

• Re: I agree totally... :) Ally 16:38:56 6/15/00 (0)

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