records

How to Start Your Own Record Label

Getting signed is what all bands dream of when they start out, but sometimes it can be difficult to get labels to pay attention to what you are doing.  This doesn’t have to be a roadblock in your musical career, although it can feel like that sometimes.

Many up and coming artists have no luck finding a label to sign to, so they go for the DIY approach of starting their own label.  Although this is quite a challenge for most people, it can be incredibly rewarding and many big artists made their way in the music industry under their own steam on their own label.

We want to give aspiring musicians some brief but solid advice of the steps to take in order to start their own label.

Choose the Name of The Label and Business

This is the best way to make the label as efficient and manageable as possible.  By registering the label as a business, legally it will be much easier to run.  Do some research and make sure your label name isn’t taken.

Create a Framework for Artists and Signings

Create a plan of how you are going to set up and deal with artists on the label.  This framework should include recording and mastering costs, budgets, earnings, promotion etc.

Sort Distribution

Get a distributor on board that is engaged and committed to selling your records.  Make sure you organise digital distribution as well.

Figure Out Promotion

Decide whether you want to handle promotion yourself or if you want to hire someone else to do it.  There are several aspects to promotion, like radio, print, online, clubs and advertising.  You might want to think about doing a few yourself and hiring someone to handle the other ones.

Prepare Your First Release

If you have all this in place then it is time to put out a release. If it is only going to be digital, then you don’t have to worry about manufacturing, but if you are going to be releasing a physical format, then you need to factor this in.