“Let’s look at what the value of a record label is in this day and age. We’ve already cut artist development, so you need to get your music right on your own without A&R guidance.
Promotion and marketing: Labels are good at going from 60-100, but not 0-60; artists still need to get their buzz going themselves.
Videos: Labels can provide the true budgets needed for traditional videos, but now with technology, artists can team up with great up and coming directors to create visuals for next to nothing.
Radio: Labels again are good at going from 60-100 but often look for early starts they want the artists to contribute.
Setting up distribution and monetizing: Selling/getting your records in stores is obviously important, and, to their credit, labels have gotten better in the last year at monetizing other avenues, yet still aren’t great—a good manager and team is much more crucial in this role, in my opinion.”
An extremely well-written article by DJ Skee for XXL Magazine in which he analyzes whether Drake would have been better off continuing on his independent route instead of signing to a major label. Personally, I agree with a lot of what Skee says, as with the digital revolution, it is now possible for artists take advantage of new technology (with a little bit of creativity and connections with the right people) to make their product as professional as someone with a major-label budget. In my opinion, signing to a major label in this day and age is the right thing to do only when you have already firmly established yourself and need them to supply more capital to take you to make you a household name. I think Drake probably felt that way and also felt a certain sense of loyalty to Wayne, which might played more of a factor than anything in his decision, and I can definitely respect that, but like Skee said, he had the perfect setup to change the game. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE and drop your comments below.
I agree with Skee, but we don’t know whats in Drakes head. If his dream was to sign to a label he achieved it. If he was looking for a bidding war he achieved it. Our dream (as watchers/participants of the music industry) was to have an artist buss totally independent of greedy record labels. As a Canadian I would have loved if he said “f-you Universal, I got this.” and continued to independently blow world wide. but such is life. I will continue to support Drake because he stands out in a world of lafffy taffy ringtone selling useless tattoo getting wrappers(yea I spelled it right). I support MC’s. It has been said before: Hip Hop did not die. It moved up north.
Great points LoyLin, it would have been great to see Drake continue to pursue the independent approach just to prove to up-and-coming artists that you don’t need a major record label behind you to succeed but he did get a deal on his terms and is still going to do very well regardless.
Monetizing websites, blogs, etc is a good way to earn some passive income.`:,
monetizing a website is really a great way to earn money in a passive way just like real estate.”;.
monetizing stuffs is the best thing that i do, i love to monetize internet traffic through ppc programs.,-
well, monetizing websites and stuffs should be great. making money on the internet is a great way to earn money ‘:.
Hollerate!