The Hidden Cost of Web "Labels". What DIY leaves out.

There is a lot of talk from many new websites about how they're taking the place of the traditional label. They're splitting revenue with the artists "in a way that's a lot more friendly to the artists than the major labels ever were." It is a side dish of nice artist friendly jargon with a steaming load of hype for the main course.

For one thing, when labels were paying artists "less money" than these particular websites, they were doing many many jobs for artists that these new web "labels" simply can't and won't do. Good labels have a highly specialized in house staff to coordinate and pay for artist development, product design, marketing, promotions and distribution. These services, when paid for individually can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when they are not properly coordinated, they are worth much less than what they cost.

These new web "labels," lead an artist to believe that they can do all these things themselves. They don't talk about the combined cost of all these missing services coming out of an artist's pocket, nor the extra value of having an expert coordinate it.

The new website based labels care about one thing only. Making money. This is the same as the old record labels. The difference is, the new web "labels" don't have to pay to create a product. As long as they sell lots and lots of pennies worth of music or sign up thousands of bands, they can be profitable. They don't really care if a particular artist succeeds as long as they are selling subscriptions, or google ads, or cheap downloads: anything other than a piece of art. They need "content streams" in order to survive. To them, music is essentially valueless. The only real value lies in the "consumer" who gives them the money, these consumers used to be known as the artist's audience.

Here's a not so novel concept: what if someone took the time to craft a sound and identity so that the artist could build an audience? I don't think that fits in to the business models of these web labels. That's what a good label or a manager or a producer can do. That's what an artist really needs. But there are not many companies out there trying to tie all these pieces together. It involves serious risk on one particular product. It is very dangerous from a monetary point of view.

Artists need guidance in the commercial music world. It is not an easy game to play and it is not a game that mixes well with good writing or creativity. DIY is great for getting started, when no one knows who you are. But with any level of success, coordination is important and that doesn't mix well with the continued creation of art. Don't believe the new media hype. The old labels are going to be here for a while. They might look different, but successful artists really can't live comfortably without them.