Is it profitable, or a lot more work and $$$ than its worth dealing with ungrateful artists, fickle radio and clud DJs, and the power of the big corporations and distributors who could give a rat's ass about taking risks?

Share your experiences, please, as I've decided to pick up where Ileft off several years ago and birth my baby.

Adisa said:

It's profitable from an artistic standpoint, but moneywise it's very, very hard work and you have to know the right people. I don't know the right people

You won't make any money and no big distributors are going to take even a look at you.

You're better off making music that heeds an underground aesthetic if you are planning to release it through underground channels. What's the point otherwise?

JDODSONandFlashpointe said:

Right.

novabrkr said:

Big distributors? Well, they're the reasons people start indie labels.
And there are dozens of indie labels that do make money.

Adisa said:

Yeah, "dozens". Out of tens of thousands.

But if you're planning to do it indie, making money shouldn't be a priority at all.

novabrkr said:

Do you have any personal experiences you'd like to share, and any wisdom/advice you'd like to share based on that experience?

u need money to make money.

Adisa said:

As evidenced by other threads novabrkr would rather discourage folks than give out advice from real world experience. Always discouraging and condescending!!

Adisa, there is a lot of good reading here which may interest you:

http://www.rapcointelpro....0START.htm

Good luck. I'm looking into something like this too.

thebige said:

Wow, isn't that a mature response. Who are you by the way?

If you really think going "indie" will make you rich then by all means you're free to try to it. So the next time you'll condescend to comments bordering on personal insults maybe you'll have some real world experience regarding the subject.

Adisa said:

Only regarding genres that aren't commercially viable to any degree. Basically you put out material when you have the money and you can only realistically expect the sales to recoup back the production costs (if even that). But the thing is, if you are doing proper "underground" music at least the people who are interested in "underground" will dig up your material as it's not available through any other means than mailorder or specialist stores. However if you are doing pretty basic pop music that doesn't heed an aesthetic of a smaller, more obscure genre then hardly anybody is going to pay you any attention. Why would they when perfectly produced pop music is available in abundance in regular record stores?

As far as the succesful indie pop music labels go operating them can be very time consuming and most seem to be starting them just in order to promote their own musical project. If that is the initial motif then it's not really going to work out in the vast majority of cases, you need dedication for the handling of the releases of other acts as well for it to be a proper label. Most seem to run these things on loan from the bank anyway (at least the people I've known).

These things are always investments, it's not children's play. So you should have at least some faith in the music you're putting out. I'm currently some 2200 euros on minus myself according to my calculations. Not that bad.

novabrkr said:

I totally understand what you're getting at. Thanks for the advice.

thebige said:

Thanks,and good luck to you as well.