A New Kind of Record Company

Every now and then I, like most of you, troll Myspace music, Purevolume, the Hype Machine etc. and find some band or rapper or singer that no one has ever heard about and say "why the hell aren't they famous"? There's a billion reasons why they'll never be famous, and why no one but me and the other 24 previous listeners will be the only ones who ever hear them. When Myspace first started offering a music upload service, it seemed like a great, new innovative way to get your band or group out there. All you had to do was make a few friends, people would check out your music, hear how wonderful you all are, and tell all their friends about you. Next thing you know the phones are ringing off the hook with offers from indies and majors, all wanting to pay you to play those songs you put on the internet. Well, that's probably never happened, and odds are it definitely won't now. I quit Myspace this summer due to the overwhelmingly annoying mountains of friend requests from bands the world over I had to sift through in my inbox to get to the one or two messages or requests from people I actually knew or (let’s be honest) would like to know. This new, innovative way to get people to listen to your band wound up being just another funnel for spam and garbage. At first I made a deal with myself to listen to at least one song from every band that sent me a request, just to give them a fair shot and perhaps discover something awesome that I never would have found on my own. This happened only once, and honestly I would give up listening to the one decent band I found if I could only have those countless hours back spent listening to hippies noodling at their MacBook mic loaded with GarageBand.

I was desperate, LastFM was full of pretentious jerks and message boards are too violent and creepy. If I’m in a band, how the hell am I supposed to get people to listen to our demo, and if I’m just a music junkie, how do I hear the new shit!?!?!?

Well if the world were a perfect place, this would exist:

A school and a record company all rolled up in one. The idea would be to draw these bands from Myspace and the digital music realm over to come and apply for the school. These kids in bands don’t have a label, maybe went to some college, but odds are if they’re in it to win it, they’ll be playing VFW halls and bars for the rest of their lives, perhaps drawing a minimal fanbase after years of playing. In our perfect world, these kids attend the school for three years, in which time they spend all of their efforts recording a full-length album. Once the album is finished, the school puts it up for sale on iTunes, eMusic, Napster, etc. and promotes it with the label’s resources. The school would be like an audio tech school, but would feature guest lecturers from indie bands ranging across all genres. A campus atmosphere would be the best place for kids to try out new stuff and meet similarly minded artists, and the school would sponsor shows every weekend so the bands could work on their live chops in front of a myriad of other musicians.

The idea is this: Each class enters and is then divided up by genre, everything from jazz to hip hop to death metal; whatever the incoming student wishes to work on. They would then stay with that group over the next three years making a record. The school would teach all technical aspects of playing and recording, and have a seminar once a day where all the members of each group get together to work on songs, brainstorm, practice, or whatever. After the three years is up, the label associated with the school puts the record online and promotes it. The band gets 6 months to sell a certain amount of units, while on tour supporting the record (tuition includes some tour support).

THINK OF IT!

A major label that isn’t run by A&Rs but simply by the market, supply and demand! If kids buy the record then the band stays on the label after the 6-month period. If the requirements aren’t met, we go our separate ways but the band now has a full album and three years of engineering, recording, and marketing experience. No more out of touch executives making the decisions, a wildfire will run through the blogosphere spreading the word of the label/school that will change the way people hear about music and change the way bands think about recording records.

That is, of course, in a perfect world.

In our world things are a little murky. It’s hard to get plays through any medium if you’re not already signed to a label. I’ve seen some of the best bands in my life start and die in basements in New Jersey. If these kids had gone to the label/school instead of getting that sculpture degree perhaps they wouldn’t be waiting tables in Trenton for the rest of their lives. There’s too much talent out there and too many avenues of access for these bands to go to waste and never be heard. The tides of the music industry are changing, but integrating education into the mix may be the kick in the ass the industry needs in order to really grasp and merge with the disruptive technology of the iPod and the internet.