Here at TSM we had an unusual experience recently. A Confetti Studios student got in touch to chat about Areafour and music labels in general. The chaps name is Alan Carson and below is what he wrote.
D1: Industry Case Study
Welcome to a case study of the job role of an active independent record label founder. I specify active because we’re looking at someone who not only starts the record label but also is also the driving force behind the success of the label. People like Mark Jones and Marc Lessner who founded Wall of Sound are examples of such people. Throughout this piece of work you will notice some key underlying qualities cropping up again and again. Qualities such as perseverance, having a clear goal, passion, and a ‘can do’ attitude. Other important factors in running a successful label include networking and the interpersonal skills, which underpin the skill of networking. A person needs to get on the phone and make appointments to meet the necessary people therefore social skills are of prime importance. We will see these themes in context as I present and discuss the findings from my research, which includes interviews with two independent record label founders, various books on the topic of the music industry, and some websites that I have found useful.
I thought it would be useful to get in touch with a local independent label because not only would it be convenient distance wise but also it would give me the opportunity to make more local contacts. After searching ‘local record label nottingham’ on the Google search engine I found an article on the BBC website featuring a local label called Areafour. After speaking to the founder Alan Carter-Davies on the phone we arranged to meet up to discuss his work over coffee. Alan explained to me that the label Areafour was not a traditional label in the sense that there was no financial motivation behind setting up the label. “The idea of Areafour wasn’t to make money, it was conceived as a way to gain some recognition for Nottingham’s bands and as Nottingham as a whole” (A Carter-Davies 2008, pers. comm., 8thJan.). Alan works for the charity Partnership Council whose role has been improving and developing the community through a range of projects aimed at dealing with social and environmental concerns in Nottingham’s area 4. With limited funds and in a very short period of time Areafour Recording Industries assembled a compilation of 18 tracks from 18 bands local to the Nottingham area. Alan expressed the importance of networking. By knowing and/or gaining rapport with the people who are needed to put release together e.g. a graphic designer, it is possible to save money and communicate ideas more effectively compared with communicating the idea to a stranger. “It’s about knowing the right people, people with a can do attitude. Get a good journalist to like you” (A Carter-Davies 2008, pers. comm., 8th Jan.). From knowing people in the print business to people in PR, web designers and music producers Alan was able to draw from these resources and produce an end product. By getting exposure on local BBC radio through guest slots by Alan and some of the bands the release had gained a potentially wider audience. The label were also nominated for a New Statesman award for its benefit to society and although they didn’t win it served as another way to get the label and bands recognised. There is an article on the BBC Nottingham website covering this story which can be seen here: BBC Article Link
In less than 6 weeks Alan and his protagonists had the vision, got their heads down and had a finished product. The first step was to advertise for local bands demos so 5,000 flyers were designed and printed and put out around Nottingham. Out of 60 responses 18 were chosen to go onto the record. Listening to Alan talk about how he involved friends who had the skills to facilitate the production of a record really drove home the importance of networking. From a music loving friend from Wales who helped judge the entries to a friend involved in the PR business who wrote the content for the website, anyone who had a talent was asked to get involved. 1,000 cds were produced, 300 hundred sent to radio stations and music journalists/magazines and the rest were put on sale through word of mouth and local advertising. Money recouped is going towards future Areafour projects. Another thing to point out is that as the idea was not a money making exercise all rights to the music still belongs to each of the individual bands as the record was produced under the creative commons license. For Areafour this means that they were able to use the work of the artists for the purposes of the record but the copyright remains with the artists.
I saw similarities when I compared Alan’s venture with one of my own. I promoted a night featuring local house music Dj’s in Kettering last year. I knew a graphic designer who designed me an amazing flyer for free, I knew 2 great Dj’s who played at the night for free and I knew the manager through a friend so I was able to get a good deal on booking the club. A girlfriend took the punters money on the door and the night ended with me in considerable profit. Another example of I how I used acquaintances to help me was when I produced a mix CD to promote my DJing. My graphic designer friend produced the design that was to be printed on to the CDs and a fellow DJ, who runs www.demomaster.co.uk, printed the CD’s at a knockdown price (my CD can be seen in the 2nd column 7th row at the address above). So in hindsight I appreciate that through a network of people who have helped me I was able to do things that would have been more costly and time consuming had I done it alone. At the time I didn’t put too much thought into networking but now I realise the true significance in it. In the future if I launch an independent record label, promote events or promote myself as an artist I will consciously and strategically use my networking skills to achieve a level of success that would be much more difficult to achieve alone.
In the case of Mark Jones and Marc Lessner who founded the Wall of Sound label it was through a chance meeting that it all began. Mark Jones recalls in The Guerilla Guide to the Music Business, “I met a guy at the clubs called Marc Lessner who was selling records off a table. Then one day we met in a record shop in Kensington and he said his table with some records had become a distribution company and asked if I’d like to work for him” (Davis & Laing 2006). By working at a distribution company they both learned distribution and export, understanding matters like these could only serve them well when they began running a record label.
Through a friend I contacted a man named Stuart Paling who in December 2005 started a purely digital Internet based label called Do It Now. The label is no longer running due to Stuart’s other commitments. The idea was that the music would be sold through sites like Beatport. Beatport is an online store where mp3’s can be bought. Beatport would feature Do It Now on their website and would earn commission on any record sales. This way a potentially larger audience could be reached because according to Stuart “Dj’s who seek out the freshest music are check out the new labels on Beatport in hope of discovering a new sound that will blow their crowd away” (S Paling 2008, pers. comm., 3rd Jan.). Do It Now records was a purely digital label for two main reasons. Firstly Stuart recognised Vinyl as a “Dying Trend” (S Paling 2008, pers. comm., 3rd Jan.). He saw little point in starting a new label and releasing on vinyl. The second reason that it’s releases were only downloadable wav or mp3 is that it keeps costs down to a minimum which is why there was no releases on CD. Stuart describes the way in which technology has changed the way particularly dance music based labels release their records, “With the benefits of DJing using software such as Ableton and Serato there is much less demand for vinyl and CD’s and DJ’s can just bring their laptop to the gig and have far more music than another DJ who brought a whole car full of vinyl” (S Palling 2008, pers. comm., 3rd Jan.). According to Stuart networking was one of the most important things in getting the label going, networking with the people at Juno and Beatport and also networking with artists. As a graphic designer himself Stuart was able to create a logo and by knowing a web designer he was able to have a basic website created to complement the labels’ existence within the online shops. I asked Stuart about any contracts that maybe involved and he told me that there was a contract in place between the label Do It Now and Beatport and the same with Juno. This contract was apparently not difficult to understand and basically protected both parties from any unlawful actions. For contracts between Do It Now and artists Stuart devised very simple contracts written in very clear language. He explains his reasons for doing this, “We just wanted to keep things simple and as we didn’t envisage making a ton of money form the label contracts were an area we didn’t invest too much time in, we just made sure we had a basic contract in place so that people stuck to the rules.” (S Palling 2008, pers. comm., 3rd Jan).
I personally would not take that route because I would want to avoid any possibility breaches of copyrights. If I were to start a label I would ensure I was thoroughly educated on the legal side of things first. Jenna Bruce who is a music law correspondent believes that copyrighting issues are not always looked into thoroughly enough (http://www.musiclawupdates.org/articles/ARTICLE%2002sampling.htm). This is an area that I feel although is very uncreative is very important in the music industry. Jenna suggests that there are various ways to learn about copyright and they include the Internet, advice from labels, seminars, courses and books. In her opinion seminars aren’t the best way for new label owners to get educated on this topic “As short and intensive industry seminars can sometimes be expensive, they are not always perhaps viable for new independent labels with limited budgets. AIM (Association of Independent Music) though do operate a free legal advice service for their large membership of, predominately, young record label bosses” (http://www.musiclawupdates.org/articles/ARTICLE%2002sampling.htm). Joining AIM is something that I would definitely consider if I were to set up a record label.
J.S Rudenske (2005) sates that one must always consult an entertainment lawyer before getting into negotiations or going near any contract. I think this is safe advice and my education in copyright is not likely to be anywhere near as good as a lawyers. A friend of mine used to be pa to a music lawyer in Manchester who I am in the process of contacting. I hope to meet with this person and get some advice hopefully for free or for a reduced rate. I believe law to be very important and so once I am happy with my level of understanding of it I will feel a lot more confident.
In summary I appreciate that there are more people in different job roles within the creative industries that I will be contacting to increase my knowledge. Specifically I would like to get in touch with a mastering engineer to see what’s involved in their work and the difference mastering could make to potential releases on my future label. Before I start a label I want to know why so many labels fail and try to learn from the experience of others. Also I will be looking at successful labels in similar genres and hopefully be able to model the success in building my own label. I know starting a label is something I want to be thoroughly prepared for and by networking within the music industry, absorbing knowledge from useful books and organizations, I will have the skills required not only to start a label but to have success. Reflecting on the research for this project I have to be honest and say that I could have contacted more people. As well as an exercise to gain an insight into the creative industries I would say that it has enriched my experience of networking in the sense that I was surprised how helpful people were. Also before this research I hadn’t been too good at getting on the phone to people and seeking advice. By getting out there and meeting people I would say that I was slightly out of my comfort zone because I’d not really done it before, in the future I will be able to do more of this and I actually really enjoyed. I did get in contact with two people who had experience of running record labels who knew more than me and I am pleased with how things went. In the future I hope to speak to label owners at a more commercial level to discuss how they grew their businesses and in particular their thoughts on the future of the music industry. I think that part of the reason that I was able to get in contact with Alan Carter-Davies and Stuart Paling is because they were not hidden behind a massive corporate structure, I think trying to get an interview with Jean-Francois Cecillon of EMI would be slightly more difficult than just picking up the phone once to say the least. To finish I would say that I have gained valuable experience that will stand me in good stead now and in the future, my research has also opened my eyes to seeing how valuable networking is.
Bibliography
Local Bands, BBC Nottingham Website, retrieved 7th January, 2008 from: BBC Article Link
DemoMaster Online Shop, retrieved January 6th, 2008 from www.demomaster.co.uk,
Jenna Bruce, September 2002, Sampling and New Independent Dance Labels: The Importance of Understanding Copyright Law, Music Law Updates, retrieved 9th January, 2008 from http://www.musiclawupdates.org/articles/ARTICLE%2002sampling.htm
Denk, J.P (ed.) 2005, Start an Independent Record Label. New York: Schirmer Trade Books.
Davis, S. & Laing D. (2006). The Guerilla Guide to the Music Business, 2nd edition. London: The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd (first published 2001).
Thanks to Alan Carter-Davies and Stuart Paling for kindly sharing their experiences.
Alan devises and runs cultural projects that help to regenerate the area economically, as well as offering local people the chance to get involved in projects that may otherwise be out of reach to them. Much of Alan’s work also helps to build the city’s reputation.
Nottingham’s strap line seems to alternate between Proud and Ambitious. Having encountered the Nottingham Eye one evening (see photo) I must admit that the city is living up to the dual strap lines. Magnificent, standing at over 60 meters, it takes a brave soul to ride the eye. Luckily for me many have done so and shared their experiences on 
