The Ultimate Artist Record Deal

The Ultimate Artist Record Deal

By Tom Gauger

Through the years as a talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency, jingle singer, manager and current production owner of ReelMusician.com, I have come to terms with the music industry and the waning of the wind of music industry absolutes. I have come to the conclusion that there are really no golden rules – No, no hidden secrets or calculated or derived formulas to run your singing career campaign on. In fact, the only substantial truths that I have found in the business are the unknown territories charted almost daily as one tries to use their own GPS to zero in on the next greatest this or that strategy to make it to stardom. With that little taste of reality, let’s look at some ideas that you might benefit from as you search to further your own career.

A few years ago I was seated at my desk within the walls of the William Morris Agency in Nashville, when my phone rang. It was a good publisher friend of mine who mentioned that Dr. Elmo (Grandma’s Got Run Over By A Reindeer) was in town and would I meet with them? – I really wasn’t all that excited about meeting with what I considered a one hit wonder, but I mentioned to say yes. That same day at lunch we were all making small talk and then the conversation of management came up and while friendly on the outside wondering what in the world I would say, a wealth of ideas seem to flood over me and so I began sharing one of the key components of the conversation, the idea of a sequel record. Why couldn’t we take the magic of the original “Grandma” song and tie it into various marketing campaigns along with the sequel? Everyone agreed and with that conversation the sequel album was born granting Dr. Elmo a significant source of income – for many years I might ad.

You ask, nice story, but what does this have to do with me? - I’ll tell you how. While I recommend your continued search for a solid record deal with a reputable record company, if that is your dream, I also recommend a back up strategy that might just turn into the ultimate record deal. With the onset of technology, the internet and the ability to create custom websites at an affordable price, there’s no reason you can’t take advantage of that avenue. Now I know that many of you are saying “Ya so what,” some of you need to look at this alternative with marketing to support your endeavor. There’s a myriad of websites out there already doing this kind of thing for up and coming artists, and you might try checking some of them out, I recommend that you approach this from your own vantage point as well.

Go ahead and sign up with company’s x, y, z, but also make sure that you have your own website driving traffic to your products, that being your CD, as well. Besides the sight being a marketing ground for your act, you will also have accomplished your calling card or business card, a credibility factor for potential club buyers, A&R, booking agents, etc to review your material; you might also make money at various side generating avenues to your site. You might consider linking to national music stores like Sam’s, Musician’s Friend, zZounds, to create additional income streams. It’s one thing to have a dream, and another to put food on the table as you follow your dream.

As you look at the realities of securing a record deal, also look at the realities of self publishing and creating your own CD under your own label name. With enough push, and believe me that Dr. Elmo has spent hours on the phone pushing his current CD, you might just land some distribution deal. Not all that glitters is gold, you’ve heard others say and it holds true for those of you looking at securing a record deal as well. Are you aware of how much money you walk away with when you sign with a major record label? – Not very much. And for how much you hear the record labels crying about the vast majority of their label acts loosing money, you’re sure not going to see much of it. That’s why I mention to look into your own label and pushing your own efforts with the attention that you deserve. I’m not very fond of the middle man. They tend to get in the way, and they don’t or can’t appreciate all of the time and energy you’ve put into your project. That’s another reason to start your own label and avoid the mysterious A&R directors who will send out a thanks, but no thanks letter to you after supposedly reviewing your material.

I realize that many of you wish that I were to hand out a five part rule or systematic approach to securing your record label, but at reelmusician.com, we are right up front and try to offer lasting solutions and not just a formality of being agreeable while not taking you any closer to your dreams. While we’re at it, at reelmusician.com we have initiated an article writing campaign to help individuals like yourself and have a multitude of articles on this subject atwww.reelmusician.com/reelmusician_023.htm. Feel free to browse. We also have free e-books on jingle singing and songwriting.

As one of our services employed to help the up and coming acts, we regularly review artist demos, so feel free to contact us at tgauger@reelmusician.com or 615-300-5030 for rules and criteria for remitting your material. We will be happy to take a listen and offer some creative feedback.

As we close out this article, and I wish we had more time and space, understand that your odds of being picked up by the majors, are slim at best and while starting up a record label and website might seem like and arduous task, keep in mind that you very well could see a good deal of success down the road. You are at least in some control and can not only steer and guide your ship, you also have someone looking out for your best interest and someone actually doing something about your career rather than waiting for a response from the surreptitious halls of the A&R and record label offices.

Mr Gauger is a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and is a jingle singer singing on many commercials from FOX TV, UPN Station ID’s, O’Charley’s, and many others. Mr Gauger can be contacted at www.reelmusician.com or tgauger@reelmusician.com or 615-300-5030