Friday, July 6, 2012

A Note about Record Labels

A Note about Record Labels
                When I first reviewed music I was quite obsessed with record labels.   I had my favorites and automatically thought that they were putting out music that was the best.   Whether or not that idea embedded in my mind some sort of bias, I will never truly know.  
                In the time that I stopped writing about music and up until now a lot of things have changed with labels.   Some of my favorite labels that I loved the first time around when writing about music seem to be putting out some absolute garbage (And not the Shirley Manson kind) whereas newer labels have also emerged because, well, my hiatus was quite lengthy.    For what it’s worth, I thought that New Found Glory and Drive-Thru Records would never part ways, and yet here the band is now on Epitaph. 
                Another interesting point to be made about record labels comes from the invention (and rapid growth) of the internet, especially for bands.    When I was last writing about music Napster was being shut down by Lars Ulrich.    Now it seems like there are more ways than ever before to create music sites online not only to host your music but also to record your music in general.  
                Initially (Probably back when they first started existing, actually) record labels served as a way to help a band get their music out to the masses.   Granted, they were actually making records back then, but we have since “evolved” into cassette tapes and compact discs.    The thing is, now we have even come as far as going to MP3s and other digital download formats.     The big question is, do record companies care now more about actual CD sales or how many people downloaded (and paid for) a song or album on a site such as iTunes?
                Okay, so having a big label behind you would be nice because they’d probably help cover some of the expense to get you a tour manager and send you off to tour Europe.   But at the same time, musicians no longer have to plead with people to listen to their music by handing them a demo tape because instead they can just point you in the direction of their band site or, you know, tag it appropriately so you’ll find it when searching for something similar (Which is what I end up doing a lot)   Besides my favorites of BandCamp and Spotify, we have places out there like SoundCloud, Reverbnation, eMusic and probably others I just can’t remember right now.  
                So go on down to the music store, buy yourself some basic software, record your band, upload it to your computer and then upload it to BandCamp for free. 
                Aside from wanting to destroy the notion that a band needs a record label in order to be successful (at least at the start), I also no longer wish to have bands be associated with labels- at least not in my mind- so as to perhaps clout my judgment of them, whether it be for the better or worse.
                If I’m writing about a particular musician and you wish to seek out more music by them, I don’t think it’s very hard to track them down in this day and age of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Spotify.   The record label just seems so unnecessary to me and as we progress from a manufactured age to the digital one, I just wonder what their purpose will be.    Personally, I’d still love to see vinyl being pressed, so if we do away with compact discs hopefully we can have record labels making strictly records.   It’s a nice thought.
                In any event, I made this note because in the coming months, certain aspects of my reviews are going to change.   I might add more pictures.   I might even add links to the band’s website or Band Camp.   (On a side note, I’ve always wanted to link to the band’s Band Camp site if that’s where I downloaded their music from, but I’m too lazy and most bands are just theirname.bandcamp.com any way, and if they’re not then you can simply search Band Camp and find them.   Again, going back to my overall belief that if people want to find music I’m writing about they can, with or without me posting links)   But I’m probably never going to add the parentheses at the end of the review to establish the record label, as I have done in the past.   It’s not that I don’t want you to find the music; it’s just that I simply do not find the information to be pertinent.    However, a spotlight about a particular record label one day would not be entirely out of the question.

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