The recording market has come a long way from sales of phonograph records with compositions recorded on them to sales of artists' albums in online stores and music services.
The site's browser figured out the main trends and learned about the work of record companies in the world of developing technologies.
The birth of the recording market
The late 19th and early 20th centuries changed the way we listen to music forever. If earlier performers could be heard in concert halls, clubs and philharmonic societies, then at the beginning of the 20th century radio broadcasting became widespread.
Then another revolution in the recording market happens - the appearance and mass availability of gramophones. Gramophone records allow anyone who wants to hear this or that composition an unlimited number of times at any time convenient for him. This period is the starting point of the history of record labels: Columbia Records, Decca Records, Edison Bell, The Gramophone Company, Invicta, Kalliope and many others.
As time passes, some labels merge into big companies while others remain independent, relying on a small audience of dedicated listeners.
The most successful artists create their own labels. Stars such as The Beach Boys opened their own record labels, The Beatles The Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin, Eminem and many others.
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By the late 1980s, the so-called "Big Six Record Labels"—EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA, and MCA—began to lead the industry. By the end of the 20th century, PolyGram and Universal Music Group merged, as did Sony Music and BMG. The Big Six becomes the Big Four:
- Universal Music Group;
- Sony Music Entertainment;
- Warner Music Group.
Until 2012, this group of companies, according to various estimates, controlled from 70% to 88% of the global recording market.
Record Companies in the Age of the Internet
In the early days of the recording market, a record label deal was a necessary condition for an artist's success, as even the most talented artists were unlikely to become known to a wide audience. Signing a contract, in addition to high-quality recording at the studio, provided the artist with an impressive advertising campaign and access to retail stores, and the studio itself - the copyright for the recording.
However, with the advent of the Internet, the development of peer-to-peer networks and freedom of information, netlabels (Internet labels) and record labels have become increasingly popular.
Netlabels have evolved with the advent of digital formats(MP3, WAV, FLAC and others). The use of these formats implies the creation of musical recordings of acceptable quality and small size. Netlabels rarely promote the group, organize concerts and protect rights. The owners of these companies are focusing on the distribution of products via the Internet and the rejection of the production of physical media.
Open-source labels release music under a copyleft license, which, unlike copyright, allows free distribution and modification of tracks.
The most famous file-sharing service of the late 20th and early 21st centuries was Napster. Founded in 1999, the file-sharing network changed the music industry forever and ended its existence two years after its creation.
Unlike other similar peer-to-peer networks, Napster had a central server and was easy to use. The server contained only information about the files, and the files themselves were downloaded directly from users' computers.
These advantages quickly brought him popularity, and in February 2001 the number of unique users reached 26.4 million. However, such success did not become a reason for the creators of the service to rejoice.
Napster was first accused of copyright infringement by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) back in December 1999. Fatal for Napster was the Big Four lawsuit, which is known as the A&M Records v. Napster case. Despite the name, the plaintiffs are all members of the RIAA. This case was the first major case of application of laws on copyright in relation to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.
The court ruled that Napster should be held liable for copyright infringement. To comply with the ban, Napster closed the service on July 1, 2001. During the bankruptcy proceedings, the company was transferred from hand to hand and today has become part of music service Rhapsody.
Despite all the opportunities that new technologies have provided to performers, the balance of power in the global recording market has remained the same. But major labels could not avoid losses due to piracy and the development of digital formats. So in 2007, sales of physical media fell by 17%, and revenues of Universal Music and Sony Music by 11.7% and 27.7%, respectively.
The rise of the internet has revolutionized the way music is distributed. Digital music revenue was $400 million in 2004 and $5.3 billion in 2011. However, this does not mean that the old formats will soon cease to exist.
An excellent example is the sale of vinyl records. In 1997 they were $144 million, in 2006 they hit a low of $34 million, and in 2013 they got an unexpected increase and reached $218 million.
Indie labels
To this day, labels and artists are creating special releases that can be purchased at retail stores. This holiday is celebrated on all continents except Antarctica. If you find a store that supports the holiday in the list and go there, you can get to the performances of the performers, as well as their meetings with fans, DJ sets, battles, body art festivals and outdoor kitchens.
Dave Grohl (former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters guitarist-vocalist) drum solo at Record Store Day
The holiday appeared in 2007 at a meeting of owners and employees of independent record stores. On April 19 of the following year, Metallica opened the celebration at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.
In 2008, the United States and Great Britain took part in the holiday, but the next year the holiday became truly international. It was supported by stores in Ireland, Japan, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Germany and other countries, including the US and the UK. Universal Music sales manager Mark Fayderbe called Record Store Day "the best thing that has ever happened to independent record stores".
However, there is another side of the coin. Some performers and public figures the holiday was criticized for initially drawing attention to indie labels, now being taken over by major record labels.
Howling Owl and Sonic Cathedral - British independent labels - have teamed up to oppose Record Store Day. In an article titled "Why Record Store Day is Dying" on the Sonic Cathedral website, the companies explain their position: "We can't compete, so we won't compete. The holiday has turned into a circus, and we will be clowns there.
The Entertainment Retailers Association, the company behind Record Store Day in the UK, responded to criticism by saying: "Record Store Day has always main goal support for independent record stores, but not for independent labels. In addition, three of the four releases sold at Record Store Day are from independent companies. It can hardly be called a betrayal of indie labels. We know we're not perfect, but damn it, even what's on this moment, much better than a world without a Record Store Day."
The holiday is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of each April and in 2016 is scheduled for April 16.
Big three record labels
The year 2012 was remembered by the global recording market for the bankruptcy of EMI. EMI Group was sold to Universal Music Group and EMI Music Publishing was acquired by Sony Music Entertainment. The Big Four became the Big Three.
Universal Music Group
Office of Universal Music Finland
Universal Music Group is an American-French media corporation owned by the French media conglomerate Vivendi SA. It is the leader among the Big Three labels.
The history of Universal Music Group begins with the founding of MCA (Music Corporation of America) in 1924. Just five years after its inception, ISA is the largest agency in the world with over 700 clients: film actors, performers, radio stars, producers and directors.
Ten years later, another future "parent" of Universal Music Group, Decca, opens its branch in America. The company quickly gained popularity even during the Great Depression thanks to its list of signed artists and the price of 35 cents per music recording.
In 1962, MCA merged with Decca, which owned a controlling stake in Universal Pictures. At the head of the companies is Lev Wasserman, who became famous for contracts with such stars as Lana Turner, Keri Grant and Alfred Hitchcock.
This year for Decca, in addition to a successful merger with MCA, was also remembered for listening to The Beatles, which would later be called one of the most big mistakes in history popular music. The audition was scheduled for January 1, however, due to heavy snowfall, the road turned out to be very long. In addition, upon the arrival of the group, the representative of the department responsible for performers and repertoire, Mike Smith, insisted on using the Decca equipment, estimating The Beatles' equipment as of poor quality.
The band played 15 songs within an hour. Despite everything, members of The The Beatles and their manager were confident that the contract would be signed, but were refused. The official reason for the rejection was that "guitar bands are going out of style." These words became notorious for Decca, and Dick Rowe himself (head of the department responsible for performers and repertoire) was remembered as "the man who turned down The Beatles."
In 1995, Seagram acquired MCA, and in 1996 changed the name of MCA to Universal Studios, and its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, became Universal Music Group. In 2012, after approval from the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, UMG acquired EMI. Warner Music, another Big Three label, fought for the purchase of EMI, but the long-awaited merger did not happen either in 2006 or in 2009.
Revenues of Universal Music Group from 2004 to 2014 in billions of euros
Universal Music took part in UNICEF Imagine Project in 2014
Loud controversy and criticism
Bribes on the radio (2006). UMG was accused of bribing a radio station for playing songs by Nick Lachey, Ashlee Simpson, Brian McKnight, Big Tymers and Lindsay Lohan. The company paid out $12 million in compensation
Abuse of digital copyright (2007). UMG has been accused of abusing digital copyright law in an attempt to remove Michelle Malkin's video. In this video, Malkin criticized Akon, calling him a misogynist. Ultimately, UMG backed down on the claims, however the video was unavailable for 10 days.
That same year, UMG was sued for indiscriminately removing a 29-second home video of a child dancing to Prince. The court ruled that the video did not infringe Universal's copyright.
Abuse of digital copyright (2011). In December, Megaupload published a video in which Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys and Will.i.am praise the resource. UMG blocked the video on YouTube, citing digital copyright law. A representative of Megaupload stated that all necessary filming agreements with each performer were signed. By a court decision, the video was returned to the resource due to the lack of reasons for deletion.
Low fees for performers (2015). UMG has been sued by 7,500 artists including Public Enemy's Chuck D, Whitesnake, Black Sheep's Andres Titus, The Temptations' Ron Tyson and Motels' Martha Davis for unfairly low royalties since digital sales began. The company paid $11.5 million to settle the dispute.
Artists who have worked with the label
- Akon;
- Amy Winehouse;
- Duran Duran;
- Guns N' Roses;
- James Blunt;
- Johnny Cash;
- Kanye West;
- Maroon 5
- Rihanna;
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment headquarters in Los Angeles
Sony Music Entertainment is an American record label and the second most influential of the Big Three.
The history of Sony Music Entertainment begins in 1929 with the founding of the American Record Corporation (ARC). During the Great Depression, ARC bought small companies at bargain prices to gain access to their music catalogs. This strategy, plus the sale of three records for $1, has resulted in sales of 6 million pieces of music per year.
Over the past few years, the status of trendsetters in music has been acquired by bedroom producers, that is, musicians who record releases in their own bedroom. This applies to both dance music and experimental dark genres or hip-hop. Music labels in in a certain sense lost their monopoly, faced with the emergence of a new software and free music distribution services like SoundCloud. The Village spoke to those who appeared in last years Moscow labels and their residents to understand why labels are needed in 2016, who buys vinyl records and how to combine the import of foreign artists and the promotion of our own residents.
*Put on your headphones, the video will play with sound.
Ildar Zainetdinov, creator of GOST Sound:
About seven years ago, my friends and I made our association "Rad" with a focus on hip-hop, beats and the local scene, and it was from this story that GOST Zvuk grew. Many Russian musicians V Lately priorities have changed, and now it has often become more interesting to produce in Russia than to participate in Western projects. But the goal was and remains the same - to promote what is nearby, and package it beautifully in order to develop the Russian electronic scene.
I am sure that in a sense we have set a trend for the popularity of domestic music. I perfectly remember her condition both five and three years ago. When I shared with others the ideas that I want to make a label where the so-called Russianness, both in terms of text and musicians, will become a key vector, they twisted my finger at my temple in response. After all, all this was before the wave of pseudo-patriotism at the state level and the triumph of Gosha Rubchinsky. The Cyrillic alphabet was just beginning to come into vogue, and Rubchinsky barely loomed on the horizon - otherwise there was complete calm.
I am absolutely sure that the work that GOST does has a great influence on the cultural image of Russia as a whole. Global people in the music industry are closely watching what we have going on. We constantly invite foreign guests to the NII, who share their experience, and when they return home, they tell how great and cool it is here and that, despite political and economic difficulties, there is a place for cultural life and new creative expressions. This is a very important dynamic that should be supported by the authorities in every possible way. But so far there is only an anti-example - the cancellation of the Outline festival, which has hit Russian cultural reputation very badly. Although I do not presume to say that this is solely a mistake of the authorities, however, it was in their interests to do everything possible so that the festival took place.
Our time is the era of bedroom producers who make their own music from start to finish. The need for incredible studios disappeared, and musicians got more freedom.
We print all vinyl in the largest Dutch factory, where our distributor is located. Our task as producers is to find the right musician who will correspond to the spirit of the label, and then form the key idea of creativity with him and select best work. I look at the musician from the outside and try to reveal it as much as possible. After the musical concept has been formed, we discuss the visual and image features of the artist, think about promotion in the media. After already underway printing and mastering, i.e. studio finalization of the material. GOST has an exclusive agreement on this matter with masters who have vast experience and work, for example, with the legendary Affex Twin, Omar Es and Theo Parrish. We also closely monitor the distribution of vinyl and ensure that the price in the secondary market does not increase. For me, this is a fundamental question. I'm not chasing our records worth crazy money on Discogs, although for this to happen, you just need to limit circulation. But I am against discogs-hucksters and I think that the label and its musicians should earn money, and not the one who first buys records and keeps them at home in anticipation of a price hike.
The task of a musician is to make music, and our task is to make a beautiful product out of it. We are slowly approaching the idea of creating our own booking agency and organizing tours for musicians. And one of my global goals is to export musicians abroad. I want our boys to perform more in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Now several releases are being prepared at GOST, including the guys who just sent a demo to the mail. This was greatly helped by a series of programs on Megapolis.fm, which I devoted exclusively to the local scene. During the year there was a cycle of 12 programs in which I staged only domestic music.
We have musicians who are, so to say, guest-formers: LAPTI, OL, Nocow. With Pasha Buttechno, we generally deal with the NII club, and all the rest are our talented friends and acquaintances. The main presentations of the label are held in the same "NII", but there is also a showcase format (festivals with the participation of several young musicians at once, who play short sets. - Approx. ed.). Such events can take place both at interesting sites in Moscow - for example, in the Polytechnic Museum, and outside the capital - in particular, in the St. Petersburg Mosaique or in the XOXO space in Krasnodar.
Buttechno
Perhaps the main musician of the new electronic wave and the hallmark of the club "NII"
I don't know how to talk about my music. Even critics can't describe her properly. It's always easier to post links than to describe in words. I have been playing music for a long time - first guitar, then went into electronics. Ildar and I became friends two or three years ago. I liked his label, and he liked my tracks. And so they began to do a joint project.
I released all the records before GOST myself, but after I came to the guys, nothing really changed. It's not a major label, it's still an independent thing. But in terms of organization, everything has become clearer. "GOST" prints an average of 300-500 copies of one plate, and this does not bring a lot of money. The label does not affect the format and genre of my music in any way, but we always select the tracks for the final release together with Ildar. That is, you make content independently, and he can already advise something. Thus, we connect our ideas about successful compositions.
I often play at NII because this is my home and I always feel comfortable here. I organize events where I occasionally play myself - this is a normal practice for the organizers.
Of the Russian labels, I really like "Luck" - such a rather eclectic project, its genre is difficult to determine. In exactly the same way, GOST can hardly be called a purely techno label, we are not limited to genre concepts. After all, there are a lot of techno labels, and they are all the same with their black covers and boring music. And "GOST" is rather a story about the search and study of talents that live in Russia.
Eduard Chaika and Masha Romanovich are the creators of Sination:
Our label appeared a little over a year ago. From time to time we were engaged in the importation of artists, so we thought - why not launch own project? Just to publish your favorite music. We don't like CDs, so we mostly release music on cassettes and don't mind trying to switch to some vinyl.
Our team has been leading several music communities on VKontakte for a long time and closely follows various scenes, and is also friends with many musicians, so it was very easy to join the industry. We don't set genre limits for ourselves, but the long-term maintenance of specific music blogs still greatly influences the choice of music we publish. Now our label has a post-punk and synthpop orientation, but we are not going to dwell on these genres and have already moved away from them a couple of times. For example, our first vinyl pressing was the album of the experimental band Bruno's 4 Positions.
We are an independent label, so we do it just for the love of music - we publish releases on physical media and help promote our artists. But we know that other labels are actively organizing events with their residents. We also have occasional parties and concerts, but not as often as the Sination label is quite young and our musicians are spread all over the place. the globe. Nevertheless, we managed to make concerts for most of the residents and foreign musicians, which is financially feasible to bring to Russia. For example, last year we brought Lust For Youth, Minuit Machine, Cold Comfort and Caerulea.
Our team consists of two people plus a couple of fellow designers - Nikita Toropchin and Vladislav Sontos. From time to time they help arrange parties and releases for a nominal fee. Our musicians, as a rule, record music at home, because Sination does not have a circulation of thousands of records, and the bands do not perform at the Olimpiyskiy. Although this, of course, is for the best.
Our work is spontaneous and chaotic - there are periods when vigorous activity, and calm. We cannot know when and what will motivate us to publish or import. Now we have some planned projects, but they are not designed for the very near future. We are, you know, calm guys - we are not in a hurry, because our label is just for the soul. We never really wanted to promote it.
At the moment we have only seven residents, but, of course, we want to grow. It works like this: we get to know the musician, we see material that is close to us and that impressed us, and then we offer to publish it. Therefore, there can be no talk of any written or oral contracts, because we are not chasing quantity and we are not forcing anyone. Musicians can always send their demos to us by mail, VKontakte and Facebook. In no case do we take only acquaintances. The vast majority of musicians published by us found us themselves. That is, first cooperation, and then friendship, but not vice versa.
Russian labels in recent years have begun to enjoy some kind of unhealthy demand not only in Russia, but also in the West. Especially going along the vector of experimental and dance electronics. The most popular are those that specialize in techno, row house and synth ambient. We like Perfect Aesthetics, Full Of Nothing, Klammklang, GOST Zvuk - they all bring up very original and interesting musicians.
Group "Fire", resident of the label Sination
Russian-language experimental minimal-synth
"Fire" became for me something like personal diary, and this makes it difficult for me to keep it within one genre or one mood, and even more difficult to define my audience. So every time I hear that someone likes my music, I really hope that these people will stay with me despite all the changes.
I met Eduard and Masha when they invited me to perform in St. Petersburg as part of another group - In a Lonely Place. And when "Fire" had enough material, I wanted to release it on a physical medium. I knew that this can be done through the guys. They helped me release the cassettes of the Mir mini-album, and also organized a concert with the legendary Swiss post-punk band Veil of Light.
The label frees you from the need to take care of the release of physical media, merchandise, and organizing concerts. And how much it is necessary, the performer decides. It helped me a lot. Moreover, before that I already had a positive experience of cooperation with the foreign label Domestica Records.
Sination collaborates only with like-minded people, and therefore there is no need for them to interfere in the creative process. I don't want to deal with a label that tries to influence my music. After all, we are not talking about pop music, where the label plays a completely different role.
Many musicians don't need labels. But today the relationship between labels and musicians has changed a lot - it seems to me that in better side. Without going into details, we can say that the labels have become a kind of window from the musical retreat, which helps to find a new audience.
Sergey Saburov, co-owner of Hyperboloid Records:
"Hyperboloid" appeared as a project of Dmitry Garin aka Acid Mafia in 2004, and his idea was to release experimental music and organize cool events. For example, big festival"Abracadabra" (Festival of experimental music and contemporary art. - Approx. ed.) took place with the direct participation of Garin and Hyperboloid. For all the time we have worked with more than thirty musicians, and so far none of them have left. After all, we are not Sony Music and we do not conclude contracts. Everything is built on trust and mutual interest.
Artists usually record music at home and then send it to us for processing. We welcome those who have access to the studios, but we don't have our own yet. All issues on the label are dealt with by three people - Dmitry Garin, Alexey Pixelord and me. We also collaborate with designers, but Pixelord takes on a lot of visual design.
We have always had the task of not only posting music on the Internet, recording cassettes or printing vinyl, but also helping cool music to break onto the stage, so Hyperboloid today is not only a music label, but also a booking agency. We organize tours and collaborate with brands that we like.
We don't want our musicians to be bored at home, that's why we organize parties. Our music sounds great at night with a crowd of people, and therefore, more than five years ago, the Hyperboloid Night party appeared, which roamed the clubs of Moscow, and now it mainly takes place in Dewar’s Powerhouse.
Thanks to these parties, Moscow clubs today can sound not only house and techno, but some experimental things. Let's say we brought Om Unit, Lapalux and Sinjin Hawke. In addition, thanks to the parties, our musicians began to perform more often not only in Russia, but also abroad, and the label turned into a full-fledged music community.
Of course, we are engaged in the importation of foreign artists. But when we were just starting to make "Hyperboloid", main task was to show that Russian artists can be not only the notorious "local support", but also independent musicians. Therefore, when we book someone from abroad, we are primarily guided not by his popularity, but by how much we ourselves want to listen to him.
Now the label has a close circle of musicians who not only release music from us, but also support each other, constantly communicate. Recordings continue to be sent to us until now, but the flow is quite large, we do not always have time to listen to everyone. That is why we created the sub-label "Hyperboloid" -
An Internet label is an online analogue of an offline music publishing house. If initially traditional record labels distribute music content, promote bands and performers in the real world, then Internet labels do the same work online. Due to the plight of the traditional music industry, when even the titans of the music business are forced to take big risks when releasing new releases, recently record labels have been trying to work with bands that are sure to pay off the invested funds. In cultural terms, this situation is quite deplorable - after all, now even not quite underground bands cannot hope for publication, and only completely successful commercial projects are released.
As you know, the reason for this is the Internet - and it also offers new ways to distribute music. Since the beginning of the 2000s, new schemes have appeared in America and Europe - when releases are not released on CD, but are published only virtually, and groups and performers are promoted via the Internet. Having copied the approach of traditional record labels and transferred it to the network, the so-called net-labels or, in Russian, Internet labels, or network labels, or mp3 labels, appeared.
What is a record label anyway? Firstly, this is an organization that distributes not any music, but a certain format or even a narrow specific direction. There is a producer, or several, who are involved in the selection of music, and a good label must have its own face and sound. Some releases are listened to only because they were released by the 4AD label, for example. Secondly, the label is engaged in copyright protection. In the case of Internet labels, copyright protection is limited to only publishing content under a free license, but the selection of music can be quite severe. It is beneficial for the label that people listen to his music, he is engaged in promotion - he can arrange concerts, distribute information about releases on the network, and so on and so forth.
However, there are more differences between Internet labels and traditional ones - as a rule, these are non-commercial labels, as a rule, releases are distributed under free licenses and mainly under Creative Commons. Internet labels are rarely engaged in the promotion of the group and the organization of concerts, basically their business is just distributing music on the net. Since it is easier to run the business of an Internet label, it is often carried out by several people or even one.
The difference between an Internet label and such music distribution sites as soundkey.ru or kroogi.ru is more obvious. Such portals simply offer anyone to place music on them and get rewarded for it. They are not engaged in selection, protection of rights, or promotion. Simply put, a label is a publishing house, and soundkey.ru and kroogi.ru are stores.
Historically, the first Internet labels were involved in the release of electronic music (since the amount of self-made electronic music is extremely large), and even now the vast majority of Internet labels release electronic music. Over time, there were labels publishing indie, alternative - that is, mainly such music, which is based on the Do It Yourself principle (in fact, Internet labels themselves follow this principle). Abroad, the number of Internet labels has long been incalculable, and we have enough of them. Usually the technical side of a lowly web label is also lowly - often a standalone wordpress blog or even just a blogspot account. But in this article I would like to tell you about several domestic Internet labels that are musically interesting, have their own identity, stand out from the general background and set trends.
The oldest working Russian Internet label, more precisely, now there are two - Otium releases ambient, idm, downtempo, Sonux - techno. There is no preview, but there are rss and separate pages by authors. Content is distributed under a Creative Commons license.
The largest Russian Internet label releasing live music. Preferred styles - indie, post rock, indietronica. There is a preview of music, rss, the content is distributed under a Creative Commons license.
Releases indie, rock, ethno music. A young and small Internet label, however, which stands out for its informative reviews of each release, detailed pages about the authors, which have photos and videos. The site has rss and there is a pseudo-internet radio - a flash player that randomly plays tracks from releases. The most important difference of this label is that, along with free downloads, it allows you to pay for releases - this money goes to the authors. The license is not specified, but it says that "all releases are free to download, listen to and redistribute if you do not intend to make money from them."
Preferred styles are IDM, ambient, minimal, easy jazz. Each release is accompanied by a detailed review. The site has a section "pulse video", where it is supposed to release music video, but now there is only one video release. Content is distributed under a Creative Commons license.
A unique musical direction - the label is engaged in the publication of academic music, works under the auspices of the Moscow Conservatory, and publishes music by composers of this conservatory. Directions - modern classic, academic electronics and avant-garde. All releases are reviewed, additional materials may contain live video and even sheet music and original materials. There is a preview, all content is distributed under a Creative Commons license, unless otherwise noted.
The labels are part of the creative association UnderGroundWiggaz and are engaged in hip-hop, RAP-A-NET - true-Russian rap, A-HU-LI rec. - instrumental hip-hop. The license is not indicated, there is no preview either, but the collection is very rich.
Music styles - alternative, post-punk, avant-garde, psychedelic, free jazz. The famous label is hosted on the Blogspot platform. The music is distributed under a Creative Commons license, there is no preview, there is rss, music can be downloaded as a track or as an album, there is access to additional materials.
If you want to become a musician, then sooner or later the question of distributing and selling your work will arise one way or another. Even if you are an enthusiast and do not plan to make money by selling your tracks, but simply dream of full halls filled with crowds of fans, you still cannot get around the issue of commercial distribution of songs, if only because this is a great way to index your band name and brand on the Internet.
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What is needed for successful placement of your releases (singles, albums, EPs)?
Release by Lena Katina, released through the Tunecore aggregator1) Quality material, i.e. your track / song must meet certain technical and temporal characteristics. If you decide to seriously engage in music, sooner or later you will come to the realization that a well-recorded track in a good studio with a professional is on a level higher than what you record at home in terms of sound processing.
2) Any release should have a high-quality cover. Very often among beginner Russian musicians I meet a complete disregard for this point. Beginning musicians simply do not want to bother and think about what cover the release will have - but in vain. Any content that you plan to place on sales platforms should be thought out to the smallest detail, including the cover.
Remember yourself when you come to the supermarket and see an unfamiliar product - you are somehow primarily attracted by the label, picture (cover, wrapper, call it what you want), and only then do you pay attention to the product or product itself. Everything is the same in music, the more attractive the cover of your release, the more likely it is to attract a new listener to your track. I think that it is better for a musician to entrust the creation of a cover to a professional or a designer. Ordering and making one cover from an artist-designer is a less expensive undertaking than a studio recording of one song.
3) After the release is prepared for release (i.e. you have the songs and the cover), the musician should decide how it will be distributed. Of course, you can go the 100% right way and show your music to the publisher. And it will be really a very useful experience if the publisher is interested. But this is not always the case, and you risk losing a lot of time, or even not achieving the desired result at all. And it is possible that the proposed conditions of the publisher for the release and distribution of your release for a particular musician will not be acceptable. For example, popular Russian publishing houses practice acquiring exclusive rights from authors and copyright holders for 5 years at a “tariff” of 50% to 50% (at best), or by buying each song conditionally for some money, for example, by paying you 1000 rubles at a time , and you forget about your tracks for 5 years - in general, to maneuver in favor of the publisher, there are a lot of all kinds of tricks that are inconvenient for the artist.
Producer and founder of the Russian-language label in Chicago, Vladimir Gershanov (VG MUSIC LABEL), with 20 years of experience in show business, told some details of the electronic distribution business:
“After the technological progress associated with the emergence of the Internet and the development of digital services that have become available to almost the entire population of our planet, digital has rapidly begun to replace analog video and audio media. Musicians, as well as sound recording and film companies, started talking seriously about new remote forms of selling video and audio information to the public. The so-called electronic distribution of audio and video content through online stores has emerged.
More recently, in the late nineties, early 2000s, the largest record labels were very careful in selecting musical material for publication, since the costs of producing analog media were relatively high. It is for this reason that many musicians and groups who did not have a lot of money for production remained “overboard” in sales and, as a result, in show business in general. They simply did not have the opportunity to express themselves, because, bypassing their opinions music editor decide on the commercial success or failure of the project.
Now, with the advent of the Internet and electronic distribution, a significant reduction in the cost of the production process, as well as stores and labels that are aggregators of these same stores, delivering information to the viewer has become much cheaper. But even under these conditions, it is extremely unprofitable for an artist to cooperate directly with online stores. Simple arithmetic. The cost of placing one song in almost any online store is 9 dollars 99 cents. Standard placement package reaches 200 online stores. Let's suppose that if an artist has created not even a standard one-hour album, but only 7 songs, then placing them in only one store will cost 69 dollars 93 cents. And that's just one store. And now let's calculate how much it will be in two hundred stores. These are costs for one year only. I know only one performer who managed to sell well in iTunes with Russian-language content. And then, she had to buy songs from herself. In other words, it is not realistic to recoup investments with sales in online stores if the artist sings in Russian and does not have, say, American, English or German promotion before placing his compositions in online stores. Still, it is quite possible to earn money if the musical material is really original and in demand. At the same time, if it is not in pirate distributions, concert and guest activities, along with radio and television rotations, plus the Internet and newspaper PR work clearly and smoothly. But not all artists have such resources. Therefore, he needs an aggregator.”
In any case, the musician always has a choice: to give the release for distribution to the publisher, or to distribute it independently through the aggregator.
In order to self-distribute own songs On the online platforms iTunes, Google Play, Yandex.Music, Zvooq, Amazon, the musician will somehow need basic knowledge and information on this issue.
Release by Grigory Leps, released on the Nikitin Music Group label through the Believe Digital aggregator What needs to be considered?
1) The musician needs to choose a reliable intermediary (aggregator) who will accept the release from him and place it on various platforms. Of course, you can go the most dreary path and independently directly (bypassing the aggregator) place your content in stores, this can be done, but there are a number of nuances: Apple, Yandex. Music, for example, is not profitable to work directly with artists, and Google and Amazon provide musicians with a similar opportunity, but at an additional cost. As a recommendation to save energy, nerves and money - use aggregator sites.
“The aggregator is a company or label that has entered into a permanent contract for the distribution of video and audio content with online stores. Typically, such aggregators themselves pay for at least 200 online stores per year. Of course, they do not pay the whole amount at once, since, for example, in the USA, they work on preferential internal agreements with online stores. At the same time, in cooperation with the distribution label, the risks of the artist himself are significantly reduced. This is the main thing for him. There is one more unpleasant moment. Let's say YouTube pays money to an artist only after they collect $30 for their songs. And for CD Baby (music aggregator), this bar is ten times higher - $ 300. To labels, they give interest immediately, after receiving any amount.
In Russia, in the musical environment, the most common services are Tunecore, CD Baby, Believe Digital and Ditto Music.
Dima DOGMA, artist, music producer in Pr Stark:
Used tunecore and central ocean.
At tunecore, everything is transparent - there is an account in which every purchase of your content is recorded. Russian aggregators in such options are significantly lame.
In Russia, perhaps, distributors make good money on this and everyone famous artists. For everyone else, the main income still comes from performances.
Russian distributors take a large percentage of revenue for content, although they do it through the same aggregators, according to the same principles, while if you do it yourself, you see every penny. You just need basic knowledge of English to understand all the intricacies of foreign distributors.
Release by Sergey Lazarev, released through the Tunecore aggregator Oddly enough, both popular and little-known artists prefer to use the functionality of the Tunecore platform. For example, the Lena Katina project distributes its last 2 albums through this platform, or Sergei Lazarev's armor-piercing hit " You Are the Only One" is also present in the Tunecore database. Moreover, the artist himself or even his management may not be aware of such placement, because he is probably contracted with a Russian publishing house, which, depending on the content of the agreements concluded, may not inform the artist about its methods and ways of distributing content.
According to websites emusic.com And believedigital.com Russian publishing houses and labels such as Nikitin Music Group, First Music Publishing House, Gazgolder, Black Star, Monolit Studio LLC among other things, they use the distribution opportunities of the foreign aggregator Believe Digital (by the way, this company owns the Tunecore service) and publish music content on foreign online music sales platforms through this aggregator. Believe Digital, in turn, does not work with individual artists, only with labels and if there are more than 500 tracks in the audio library. Therefore, in principle, there is no difference in Russia through which publisher or aggregator you will distribute your songs.
Vladimir Gershanov (VG MUSIC LABEL):
“But not every label is playing fair. This also needs to be taken into account. I am an experienced director and founder of a Russian-language label in the USA, and I quite responsibly say that 85% of Moscow labels are pirates. It's easy enough to determine this. Firstly, if a label representative says that he places musical material everywhere for free, and even gives the artist 80-95%, you should know that these are pirates. Miracles certainly happen, but very rarely. I started my label 11 years ago because European labels didn't want to work with Russian-language material, and those who did were just scammers. It is important to have a good insurance value, issue your own shares and a place on world trade exchanges. Decent labels help artists earn money from their video content by having a direct contract with YouTube and are not only its premium partner, but also the holder of its shares. This greatly expands the possibilities.
Monetization of Content-Id is possible not only from your own YouTube page, but also from any other, on which the music material is currently located. It is almost impossible for small labels, especially the artist himself, to do this without being a YouTube premium partner. Another one commercial form- release of collections, which contain songs of several artists, depending on the genre. Very effective distribution of new musical material according to the database of hundreds of radio stations "from Malta to Ichkeria". Radio rotation brings very good financial reports at the end of each quarter. By the way, every self-respecting label is obliged to give a financial report on sales to the artist at his first request. This is usually done every three months."
Release Lil Kate feat. Basta, released on the Gasgolder label through the Believe Digital aggregator Every young band that has recorded their first demo dreams of getting on a label and becoming famous. For many, a record label deal looks like a panacea that instantly solves all problems. But is it? Is it really worth instantly transferring the rights to your music, letting others decide where you go with a concert, which studio you will record in and under what cover your new record will be released? Are music labels really an easy way for aspiring artists to get what they want?
To begin with, we will try to consider all possible aspects of the work of a musician with his work. The first, and most obvious, is DIY (Do It Yourself is an abbreviation used to refer to people who act on their own, without any support or connections). You are the full owner of your product, you are free to dispose of it as you please. In such a situation, the artist takes on the functions of the label and himself is engaged in finding a studio, production, organizing his own concerts, releasing merchandise, etc. If you have chosen this form of work, then the most competent decision would be to hire a manager who will help you with this.
Realize that by working on your product yourself, you will not be able to pay due attention to creativity; a significant part of the time will have to be devoted to organizational issues, which will definitely affect the quality of your activities in general. However, by gathering a whole staff of specialists yourself, you will get a chance to realize your goals. One of the successful examples of self-promotion can serve as a group Enter Shikari, for a long time who released their works by DIY method. The guys became a significant commercial success, arousing huge interest from major record companies in part due to the fact that for some period they turned down good offers from various smaller labels. Perhaps it will work for you too. Believe in own forces? Forward!
The next form is DIY or indie labels. These are small conglomerates, aimed more at the underground or narrowly focused market. Often the income of such labels is very low, many work "for the idea", but a contract with such a label can be extremely useful for an aspiring artist as a launching pad and a way to get the necessary contacts. Yes, yes, it is acquaintances that will help you in further advancement. The reality is that even the largest music labels base their activities on an extensive network of acquaintances, mutual favors and promises. Returning to DIY labels, it's worth noting that, unlike the artist himself, they already have some channels for distribution and promotion of your work. It often happens that the artists themselves create small indie labels to promote their work, subsequently slowly expanding the list of signed groups. Plus, for the most part, indie labels have a fairly transparent and understandable contract for the artist, unlike larger labels owned by large music corporations. These labels are called major labels. We are talking about the so-called "big four record labels", which account for about 70% of the global music market. These include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Group (along with UMG absorbed by the French media conglomerate Vivendi SA) and Warner Music Group.
There are several branches of these labels in Russia: Universal Music Russia, Sony Music Russia, Warner Music Russia and others. Each of these giants of music. industry has an impressive list of smaller labels associated with them, which, however, does not prevent both parties from successfully earning and promoting their product on the market. Such conglomerates are completely self-sufficient: a large record agency is able to provide a new record all the way from the sound engineer to the shelves of music stores (or Internet sites like Apple Music or iTunes, which is more in line with the modern realities of the music industry) and organize a tour for the artist in support of it. But for a beginner (and even more so for an underground) artist, the path to a contract with such a label is actually closed: in modern conditions no longer operates the outdated scheme by which musicians of the 1980s received multi-million dollar contracts with record companies. 
If earlier the band, having sent their demo to the label, could hope that the A&R manager would choose their work from thousands of applications, now such an outcome of events is very unlikely. With the advent of new technologies and the beginning of the Internet era, access to music creation for a wide musical audience became open, as a result of which the flow of recordings to labels' mail from novice musicians became simply uncontrollable. This has led many companies to switch to new stage work with talents, noticing and signing only those who have already been able to break out and distinguish themselves from a million of the same ambitious figures in musical culture.
But the digital age has also brought significant changes to the industry as a whole, posing a number of new, absolutely unique and previously irrelevant questions. One of them - is it really necessary for a modern artist to be signed to a label? Over the past 10 years, home recording studios have developed tremendously, numerous devices have made professional recording possible at home, many designers are working on release covers, offering their services online, concert venues call young artists to performances through mailings, without resorting to the services concert agencies. And most importantly, the sale of physical media has forever faded into the background, giving way to streaming services and the ability to buy a release in digital format.
This is just a small list of examples of irreversible changes that the music industry has undergone around the world. And this system continues to develop dynamically, showing new opportunities for working directly with the listener.
