Can it really be a fluff piece if it’s true?

I’m not super familiar with the inner workings of record labels, but every major company I’ve seen that’s been around a while has this problem. And all it does is unnecessarily drive up costs.

If a label could just start from scratch without all the dead weight, you’d see much improved bottom lines. On top of that, I’d say get a handle on distribution, ’cause I’m sure there’s added cost in there somewhere. Heck, a band can buy fully packaged CD’s with a nice insert for a buck or less depending on volume. Ship it out via USPS for a couple of bucks and walk away with their $7 to $10 profit. A label buying and shipping larger quantities should be able to cut out even more cost. And of course, in the long run, CD’s will be a thing of the past and there will be virtually no distribution cost to get it to the consumer.

The key is still the marketing. If you can get people to hear your music without having to go through a bloated major label, there’s tons of money to be made. With everybody and their brother with a top notch ProTools set up in their den, production costs for a really well-done album can be far lower than in the past. And if a band is willing to do the legwork to get their music out, the money is there. A small label with a motivated staff could do this for several bands with minimal costs. And the key is…with less money invested, you don’t have to sell 1 million albums to break even. We end up with more people making a decent living, providing a greater variety of music, and opening the business up to folks that otherwise might not even bother.

If we could just crack through the whole corporate radio problem, that would open even more doors.

Anyway…my 2 cents for what it’s worth.