TIME…a crucial factor for DIY music issues?
Yeah, I agree with the issue of “being independent”. I have also to mention that signed in a label doesn’t mean that you avoid the costs, etc. Every “insider” of the music biz knows that at least the first album of an unknown artist is financed by the band and labels usually pay for the CD manufacturing , do the distro and promo issues. Then they enjoy the potential profits from product sales without worry about the ROI ( return on investment) because there is no investment! All the production cost including studio rehearsals, mixing, recording, etc. are covered by the artst himself.
This means that DIY looks like a pefect way of escape from being a puppet under your master’s commands. You have no money to loose because you have already lost it (it’s written in the contract that you’re obliged to cover all the production cost). The main disadvantage of being independent is the TIME you devote in issues beside composing music and expanding the art on your mind. TIME is an almost unpredictable factor, just like the human factor: Even if you make a time plan in order to save enough time for your rehearsals, you never know why the meeting with the distro company never made each way but you were obliged to drive 1,5 hour and find distro company’s office closed! Then you have 1,5 hour to drive back home or studio (sometimes studio becomes your home!) to compose new music.Return On Time’s Investment : You wasted 3 hours from your life with no means and came back home too dissapointed to let yourself free and concentrate on your music composition.
So it’s damn sure that being a DIY guy means that you’re prepared to devote some serious time upon it or find free time if you do not already have. Do you wanna be a DIY guy? So get prepared for night shifts, part time jobs, less eating than singing , moving in music crowded cities, dealing with “wannabe Rainbow bar ” bartenders, meeting indie girlfriends ( “I bought a super underground band called Metallica, do you know them ? ” ), rip off distros, pay to play Radio Stations, pray or play religion fanatics, etc. But at last and not least get prepared to reinvent yourself and think outside the box ways to reach your goals.
