TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

The answer to your first question is IT DEPENDS ON THE CONTRACT. Most companies have restrictions on their artists doing too much self-promotion. The way they see it is that artists will be busy enough just being artists. Can an artist say, go to their friend's club and do a free show? Probably not. Can an artist go and perform at their friend's house party? Probably so, if they keep it a secret. Labels are like the mafia in that they don't want anything going on with their people that they don't get a piece of.
The answer to your second question depends on the artist. Someone like Bila could do this fairly easily whereas someone like SWV or Christina Milian might have a tougher time. Some artists need labels, other artists need the money and promotion and access. Trust me ALL the majors are scared as hell of a breakout artist coming from the web, so its not hard to do, its just hard to make it happen on a widescale. They KNOW its gonna happen eventually and when it does, it with be the death of them. Labels pay for access. They pay for promotion. They are "connected". The internet is the world's playing field right now. Its fair game. Its actually the only real way an independant can have the potential to blow up on a large scale without the help of a label without doing a million gigs a year. I predict that the next "Napster" type format will spawn the first internet star. Then the government will shut it down. There are a few organizations working towards just such a thing, like http://www.omn.org/. Right now, all these media organizations work in conjunction with labels, but that's because there's money flowing. If one of these internet organizations blows up, then t.v. stations will have no choice but to play ball with them. The potential for profit will not be ignored. This would take the control out of the hands of the major labels. I'm gonna say this; its a generalization but its an unspoken truth. If you can sell 40K units as an independant, you can get signed to a major. You may not need them, but you can have them. They will fight over you because you have proven to be guarenteed money. At that point, you can choose to option your independent label out as a subsidiary company (smart: see LaFace Records) or sell yourself to the major as an artist (dumb). Optioning out your independant label lets you keep control of the music and the money while allowing you access to areas of the biz that you don't get as an indie. Selling your artist is just plain f**king stupid if you've already sold 40,000 copies. You're already doing what the majors do on a smaller scale. You're already in the game and just don't know it. The whole trick to the industry is getting attention. Staying on peoples' minds so that when it comes time to sell them your products, they view you favorably and part with the cash. Its all about marketing. One of the biggest mistakes I see small artists making is not keeping fanlists. With the internet being what it is today, there is no reason a performing artist of any genre shouldn't have an email list a mile long. "If you build it, they will come."

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

The answer to your first question is IT DEPENDS ON THE CONTRACT. Most companies have restrictions on their artists doing too much self-promotion. The way they see it is that artists will be busy enough just being artists. Can an artist say, go to their friend's club and do a free show? Probably not. Can an artist go and perform at their friend's house party? Probably so, if they keep it a secret. Labels are like the mafia in that they don't want anything going on with their people that they don't get a piece of.
The answer to your second question depends on the artist. Someone like Bila could do this fairly easily whereas someone like SWV or Christina Milian might have a tougher time. Some artists need labels, other artists need the money and promotion and access. Trust me ALL the majors are scared as hell of a breakout artist coming from the web, so its not hard to do, its just hard to make it happen on a widescale. They KNOW its gonna happen eventually and when it does, it with be the death of them. Labels pay for access. They pay for promotion. They are "connected". The internet is the world's playing field right now. Its fair game. Its actually the only real way an independant can have the potential to blow up on a large scale without the help of a label without doing a million gigs a year. I predict that the next "Napster" type format will spawn the first internet star. Then the government will shut it down. There are a few organizations working towards just such a thing, like http://www.omn.org/. Right now, all these media organizations work in conjunction with labels, but that's because there's money flowing. If one of these internet organizations blows up, then t.v. stations will have no choice but to play ball with them. The potential for profit will not be ignored. This would take the control out of the hands of the major labels. I'm gonna say this; its a generalization but its an unspoken truth. If you can sell 40K units as an independant, you can get signed to a major. You may not need them, but you can have them. They will fight over you because you have proven to be guarenteed money. At that point, you can choose to option your independent label out as a subsidiary company (smart: see LaFace Records) or sell yourself to the major as an artist (dumb). Optioning out your independant label lets you keep control of the music and the money while allowing you access to areas of the biz that you don't get as an indie. Selling your artist is just plain f**king stupid if you've already sold 40,000 copies. You're already doing what the majors do on a smaller scale. You're already in the game and just don't know it. The whole trick to the industry is getting attention. Staying on peoples' minds so that when it comes time to sell them your products, they view you favorably and part with the cash. Its all about marketing. One of the biggest mistakes I see small artists making is not keeping fanlists. With the internet being what it is today, there is no reason a performing artist of any genre shouldn't have an email list a mile long. "If you build it, they will come."

Fuck 'em they were there when their dumbasses signed the contracts...
So they're either REALLY dumb or someone needs to give all these fame/money hungry acts some reading skills... Probably a bit of both...

Neversin.