Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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January 15, 2007

Independent Creativity, Mass Distribution

Doug Harrison writes:
In the more perfect world I’m imagining, a group like the Hoppers, who have the know-how and experience to produce their own music in the studio, would record an album and administer rights and royalties themselves, buy duplication services from the most competitive bidder, provision digital downloads themselves (or use a contractor), and contract with a label (or again some other contractor who might spring up to take advantage of the opportunity) for access to distrubtion networks.

This would be the perfect solution for every artist at the top of their game. Still hire the best musicians and producers, but make the music you want to make without a label looking over your shoulder through the whole process. Then assuming it turns out great, negotiate a deal with a label for distribution.

I agree with Doug that depending on your fans to come to your concert or seek you out on the web when you have a new release may not be the best move for the long-term, even if it's more profitable in the short term. The industry needs to grow, and having products in stores is part of that equation. (Of course, radio and concert promotion are the big question marks, but I'll stay off that horse for this blog entry and focus instead on marketing.)

Some independent artists have tried dealing directly with distribution companies, but that doesn't generally work.

Take a look at a distribution company's list of projects. 99.9% of them are on a label. When distribution companies deal with a label, they're getting a number of releases per year with a guarantee of a certain level of quality across the board. In contrast, independent artists left to their own whims in the recording studio might turn in a terrific project one time, and one with little commercial value the next. The major distribution companies in Christian music...Word/Warner, EMI/CMG, and Brentwood-Benson...aren't going to get caught up in the minutiae of negotiating individual agreements with independent artists. They need the quality control a label can provide in place before they'll agree to expend money promoting a product for sale.

There are smaller distribution companies, though, like New Day. When I worked in Christian retail, New Day distributed all sorts of Christian music in addition to Daywind titles. I'm assuming they still do.

New Day struck a good balance for product that was typically hard to find, because they weren't in the business of marketing products like the big distributors. They were just a go-to place to find lesser known titles. They did make an effort to let me know what was new, though. A phone rep called me on a weekly basis with a list of titles for my consideration. They had an incentive program for customers, and they allowed product returns. They just didn't send representatives to the store or mail me glossy catalogs and demo recordings every couple of months like the big distributors.

Since that time, Daywind has also created a distribution partnership with Word for their more popular releases. It think they'd be smart to take that partnership a step further. Daywind has access to hundreds of independent releases via New Day, and they have the know-how when it comes to judging quality. A number of popular independent artists have CDs that rival the stuff Daywind produces on their own. If Daywind wanted an extra cash flow with very little investment, they could negotiate deals with these independent artists, contingent on Word picking them up for national distribution.

Obviously, Daywind's cut would have to be significantly less than what they'd get for a normal Daywind label release, with most of the profits from Word distribution going to the artist. However, it should still be a worthwhile revenue stream, since the burden of producing the recording in would rest on the artist. Either Daywind or Word could assume manufacturing rights on the copies they distributed in order to have hands on quality control over how the product looks on the shelf, but artists could retain manufacturing rights for the CDs they sold directly to consumers as well. Also negotiable would be the size of the advertising budget, which would need to be recouped by whoever spent it before profits could be realized. All that could be hammered out, but it could be a win-win situation for everyone involved, including the artist.

I'm just using Daywind as an example, because of their connections with New Day and Word. The same idea might work with Crossroads, which has a connection for distribution via Wal-mart, I believe, or New Haven, which has a connection to Provident Distribution.

When the Hoppers turn out a classy project like The Ride, you would think some label would jump at the opportunity to put their stamp of approval on it and help get it into as many hands as possible.

Update: It appears Crossroads already does this. Click HERE for one example

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 10:18:00 PM


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