Part 1 - Breakdown of the Business
I want to be clear upfront, this is not an all-encompassing “how-to” guide or textbook explaining everything about the music industry. This is me explaining the information that I’ve learned and applied in founding and running an independent record label. Me starting the label was in a way, me accepting the fact that I would have to learn how to navigate the murky waters of the industry solo. That being said, I’m constantly engaging with new people and learning more on the business specifics, and will be constantly updating each section with new helpful tips and knowledge.
If you have past experience or knowledge on a specific topic, feel free to drop a message, and we can talk about improving the blog post for anyone else that is interested
Breakdown of an Indie Record Label (The Short of it)
This post serves to summarize the different parts of an indie record label. I’ll be going through each individual portion in detail on follow-up blog posts. Even then, I can’t put everything I want on this series, so I’ll be making separate threads for descriptive information on a certain topic. This and all future posts in this series will be “living” documents, meaning as more information comes through, they will be updated over time.
The order of the topics follow my thought process as I began to learn and develop the record label. I think this format will also be helpful for anyone that wants to apply the topics to other business ventures beyond staring a record label. The main topics that will be reviewed are:
CEO/Decision Maker - Vision, Leadership, Setting the Tone
Budgeting and Resource Allocation - Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
Legal and Licensing - The Law of the Land
Marketing and Branding - Building Recognition through Reputation
Artist and Client Relations - Teamwork makes the Dream Work
Production and Distribution - Crafting Art and Building Community
Continuous Improvement - The Rejection of Complacency
Where the Information is Coming From
A couple of years after high school, I enlisted in the US Navy. I joined a program and community that instilled strict discipline, principles and values. While this is already expected in the military as a baseline, this program also thrived and depended upon individual and collective integrity. After spending time in the Navy as a machinist mate, I eventually began working various maintenance roles on the civilian side. I had the opportunity to travel for work and learn about a variety of businesses and industries throughout the United States. The common threads and themes that I’ve personally seen in successful businesses and communities are what I aim to apply to my record label. I’ll be adding some references to books that I’ve read in the past that helped me develop the ideas behind these topics (On this post and the last post of the series).
References:
Start Your Music Business by Audrey Chisholm
Music Law in the Digital Age by Allen Bargfrede
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
(Bernays is considered the “father of modern advertising”. In his book, he explains the history of propaganda and advertising, and reflects on important principles that resonated during the time period and still apply today. As an interesting note, he was also the nephew of famed psychologist Sigmund Freud. Bernays essentially collaborated with his uncle to develop modern advertising in the United States)
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
(While this speaks to my Navy roots, the lessons explained in this book transcend the military, and I recommend anyone in a leadership position, whether you’re leading a team at work or guiding a family, to grab a copy)
Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices by Ramesh Gulati
(This is an industry specific read that I would only recommend to those in a maintenance leadership role. The brilliance in Gulati’s book is not only demonstrated in the detailed breakdown of a maintenance entity, but in the overall emphasis of building a culture based on reliability and continuous improvement. There are many aspects of this book that I would like to adapt and apply to the record label. Just to reiterate, this is a Maintenance Industry specific book)