It Takes A Village To Make A Record
I’ve always encouraged artists to DIY their own records. My advice has been more along the lines of pursuing dreams as I’m a firm believer that the fastest way to grow old, no matter how young you are, is to stop dreaming. All of the more business-y aspects of the process were oblivious to me since I had never actually put out music (as an artist) myself.
But now after finally jumping into the arena, I’ve been enlightened as to the amount of work involved in getting an album off the ground. It’s left me walking around with my jaw perpetually dropped. There’s so much more to do than have a blast in the studio. How did I not know this?
First of all, I now understand why so many artists crowdfund. I always thought the crowdfunders must be the ones who are dirt broke. But that’s not the case at all. Between the recording costs, mixing, mastering, musicians (if you don’t have a band), artwork, social media s.o.s., videography, PR, website upkeep, it’s a wallet-sucking endeavor. After all, we’re doing the work a label would otherwise do for us if we were signed to one. Last week I had dinner with a college Grad who holds down 5 different part time jobs in order to support his habit.
The upside of course, is we can own our masters and will reap the benefit of any income they generate.
I made a personal decision not to go down the outside-funding road. In lieu of paying my producers a fee we agreed to split the ownership of the recordings. So, if I should get a substantial film or TV usage I’d be obligated (and happy) to share the sync fee with them. All good. I feel confident this arrangement isn’t something I’ll regret even if I get a $400k license for “Bitch 2.0.” 😳 (From this blog to God’s ears.)
Then there are costs (for some like me) of hiring hands to help “ingest” masters (I’m learning new words every day) — that’s after you’ve done the leg-work to find and choose a distributor — and entering metadata correctly and completely. I do not trust myself as far as that goes. Too much room for error and omission. And as an advocate of the MLC (Music Licensing Collective), a database that will centralize all digital information by 2021, it’s going to be imperative we get this right if we want to be paid.
All of this online choreography is supposed to be intuitive but for a “digital immigrant”— someone who didn’t grow up with digital skills the learning curve is daunting. Whereas my young friend Sonja Midtune, who’s also putting out music, seems unfazed by it all. They call her a “digital native.” Hmm, I wonder why. I, on the other hand, chose to partner with someone who does this sh*t with her eyes closed. She’s worth every penny. And I’m lucky I have pennies. What if you don’t?
Kristin Juel, Lauryn and Ella
And finally…the fun stuff — the music! I needed players! Being in the music biz for as log as I have I’ve made some wonderful friends — friends who didn’t flinch when I asked them for help. I paid some. I took others to dinner. Some wouldn’t hear of any of it.
On my first single, the reimagined “What A Girl Wants,” badass guitar Goddess Janet Robin brought some love and then, when I realized Australian blues-rocker Hamish Anderson (who I’ve been fan-girling since I heard “U” on KCRW) was in town I asked him if he’d come by and throw down some wah-wahs. I was also lucky that my good friend Kasim Sulton, on a respite from touring with Todd Rundgren and “KASIM SULTON’S UTOPIA“ was happy to (remotely) lay down bass. (He has his own 4th solo album coming at us this summer).
The head of my village, my friend, confidant, therapist and producer Eve Nelson (who specializes in roast chicken, broiled salmon and linguini in clam sauce) oozes creativity with little or no effort. When I was perplexed as to how to approach “What A Girl Wants” with a new slant, a girl-anthem that Christina Aguilera OWNS, she simply put her hands on the keyboard and said “How about something like this?” And so it was.
Everyone has a village. Take a deep breath and think about who yours is. Hopefully you have a bit of savings to pay for what you can’t do yourself. Or you could offer a service you’re expert at in exchange for something about which you’re clueless. Crowdfunding is a respectable option. But reach out. Ask for help. You may be pleasantly surprised at who steps up. Be there to return it. I can’t wait to reciprocate me services to my village although I have a feeling I won’t be asked to offer up any shredding. That said I did play some rhythm on my record. Eve insists I’m not as novice as I think. She says my limitations work in my favor. I’ll take that as a compliment.
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Keep Scrolling ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Kasim Sulton
Janet Robin
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