Suit and Tie Optional

It's finally here! The tipping point in the music industry. The power of the internet, combined with the rigor mortis of the major labels business practices, has created an avenue that allowed for over 50% of this year's Grammys to go to independent artists. What was that I just said? Music's big night, the night when all the labels would get together and see who had the biggest...uh...roster and over half of the awards went to artists without major label backing! If that doesn't reinforce that independents can be successful I am not sure what will.

Yes, Radiohead already had a pretty big fanbase by the time they went the independent route, as did Nine Inch Nails, but what about Joe Purdy? Joe has earned over $640,000 via CD Baby alone and he doesn't have a major label backing him. In fact, I would go out on a limb and say most people that come across this post have never heard of Joe Purdy but trust me you've heard Joe's music. I'll be honest, aside from hearing his music in one of my favorite car commercials ever and the small web search I did to find out the info I just provided, I don't know jack about Joe. What I do know is this: Joe is proof. He is proof in what I believe in the very core of me. Major labels are no longer required to have success in the music business.

Of course, this is all dependent on your idea of success. For the major labels success has benchmarks, and these benchmarks are made out of gold and platinum. A record goes gold when it reaches 500,000 units sold (and remember kids; this does not mean that the artist is making money yet). But what about Joe? Well, let's see, we will assume that he sold his albums for $10 each and we know that CD Baby takes $4 per disc for their services. This leaves Joe with $6 per disc. After consulting with my trusty calculator watch, we find that Joe sold 106,667 via CD Baby. Don't get me wrong here, this is no small feat! That's a lot of albums but it is not remotely close to making gold record status. At this point, if Joe was on a major label he would be considered a failure. Fortunately for Joe, he is not on a label at all. He gets to keep every last dime that he has earned. To me, that sounds like success.

Joe's level of success, although not common by any means, is becoming more and more accessible as the sun sets on the music industry of yesteryear. Over the upcoming weeks my posting will be aimed at helping you define and achieve your success in the new music business.

Thanks for stopping by.

J.C.
www.artisanslabel.com
studio.artisanslabel.com