The State of the Music Union

Well, I can't say that I know all that much about politics or the current economical forecast, aside from what I see/read on CNN, but I guess this is more of a State of The Union of the Music Industry the way I see it.

Things they are achangin'. It's amazing that some of the most incredible artists from our past would not be signed much less famous if they were trying to make it today, it's sad really. The concept of Artist Development has gone out the window, and the Majors want to be absolutely sure you are a money maker before signing you and if that first album isn't a huge seller, forget about a second. They can drop you like a hot potato. That being said, it's not that they aren't signing anything, just few and far between.

So what is an unsigned/independent artist to do? Well there are many options. The most important is to get the highest quality of recording possible. Once you have that, upload your music everywhere you can. Get a MySpace page, Facebook page and any other social networking site....You should also promote yourself by blogging and collecting fan email addresses so you can put together a newsletter.

Next you might consider some paid services such as a Publicist, or services like Music Gorilla where you receive access to industry and can submit your music for film, tv, video games and songwriting projects, or maybe play for a major label a&r or get your music into MTV's catalog. Whichever way you decide to go, you want to get attention to your music. When you are touring, and getting placement on tv and films, and building your fan base a record label will sit up and take notice, they will think to themselves, huh, they're doing all this great stuff on their own, imagine if they had x dollars behind them...... Now the ball is in your court, you get to decide what's best for you and your music and isn't that a great position to be in?