New Indie Music

Ever since the days of the Bible, man has always tried to enforce some form of 'enslaving' or controlling another human being, in many different ways, from the use of human beings for labor, money, etc. Just look at the United State's IRS as an example of an organization who wants a hefty percentage of every dollar earned by every American Citizen.

This same practice of control and profitability even is prevalent in the music industry. The organizations are known as major record labels.

Now I'm not about to bash the labels and say that they are all bad. All I would say is, that they are missing 'it.'

For years they have tried to constrict and control the creative process. Many years ago, they knew that creativity was what being an artist was about, but somewhere along the way, they started to focus less on the creating and more on the profits.

The fact of the matter is, creative artists are usually more profitable, but when you put a choke hold on the creativity of an artist and try to copy someone else's successful work, you limit the potential return on investment.

You see, when I was in grammar school, if we got caught trying to copy someone else's homework or copy their answers during a test, we got punished. We were supposed to learn the lesson that cheating doesn't pay.

The recording industry has seemed to take a different stance on that subject, as major labels make some of their new music artists 'copy' the work of other successful artists and create new songs that strongly resemble the latest platinum song.

Meanwhile, the fans of the music industry who have noticed that a lot of major label releases are starting to sound alike, have started exploring new indie music as an alternative way of discovering brand new music by new and independent muic artists.

So why do I say that new indie music could become the future music industry? Why do I believe that new indie music will become, new major music?

The answer is this simple: Major labels are missing the mark...

...And while they're missing it, fans are 'getting it' and indie artists don't really feel they have a reason to go with a major label anymore...

I have been working as a music producer for over 12 years, and I have witnessed firsthand the transition from recording in mutli-million dollar studios, to recording in home studios, and releasing the end product to the masses.

As a matter of fact, as I am sitting here typing this article, I am currently working on producing a project with an artist who is signed to a major record label...and we are recording it in my home studio!

Now, I do have quite a setup in my home, at this point probably close to a $100,000 setup, and that is only because I bought a lot of the equipment when home recording hadn't really picked up yet.

But today, you can do everything that I can do in my studio, for less than $10,000....maybe even $4,000 can allow you to do the same thing, and it's simply because the technology has gotten so good and so cheap.

The commercial studios where I work on projects are multi-million dollar studios...but it is a shame how little they are used.

And get this...when I go there, we don't even use all the big gun equipment anymore!

For example, the last song that I mixed there, we did everything on the same equipment that you can put in your house by the end of the week...an apple computer, some good speakers/monitors, and the proper audio interface and software with plugins.

My point is, it's no longer about the equipment itself, it is the person behind the equipment, and the independent music artists of today are so dedicated, that they make it a point to really learn what they are doing so that they can come up with the highest quality product.

So I don't believe that the big $300,000 recording budgets will be necessary anymore like they used to be.

As a result, there will be much new indie music released, and the demand for it will increase as fans flock toward creativity that the major industry is starting to lose...

In this year's presidential election, Democratic Candidate Barack Obama's marketing team have proven just how effective web 2.0 marketing can be, as they took a senator from my home state who many people did not know, from an Illinois Senator to the Democratic Nominee....and they did it quick.

These same type of strategies can give a new indie music artist a super shot to super stardom in their music career, and most of the strategies can be done for free, or real cheap.

So the $300,000 marketing budget from the major label isn't as important as it used to be.

Case in point...look at a young artist from the south, I mean souf...named Soulja Boy, who went from a dude makin videos in his living room to a multi-platinum success story, in less than 1 year!

A lot of people don't even feel that he's a talented artist. Whether you agree with that or not, there is one talent that he has that can't be denied, and that is the talent of web 2.0 music marketing.

You have to respect anyone who works hard and makes success out of nothing, whether you like their end product or not.

So these points prove that indie music promotion will not be a problem for those indie music artists who are truly hungry and passionate enough about their music to succeed.

Every tool that is needed to become a successful new indie music artists is on the internet, and most are free.

If the major record labels don't adapt to the change, independent music artists will become the new major artists, the dominating artists, and major label signed artists will become the 'back-seaters.'