So You Want to Start a Record Label

Chris Jones
Mr. Jenkins
Honors Eng 11
3 April 2009
So You Want to Start a Record Label?
Ezinearticles.com has a great article on how to go about beginning a record label. This article discusses a wide range of topics including: finding investors, legitimizing your label, and finding new hot talent. Though other topics are discussed, these three are most important to starting a successful record label.
Many of the big record labels of today have many more projects than just promoting there client’s music and this nets them millions of dollars in profit that they can throw around to anyone of interest, so it seems they can sign new artists effortlessly. However there is still room for the small, upstart labels to gain popularity and expand, turning a massive profit and turning the owner of the label into a world renowned music mogul.
Many beginning labels are started with humble sums of money and if you’re lucky enough to get investors it helps. The key to attracting them is you must have a solid business plan and strong proposal from which you can project future income. You also need to open a bank account for the label that you can pool all your investors money and have something to pay off people with. Also having a lawyer draw up legal contracts for your people is important to avoid turmoil. As for signing new talent you need to go to any place that there will be a live music scene for your label’s genre. From the band looking for their big break, to the one already signed with competition, the article says have the motto of "everyone gets a card". (Article,1) Play your cards right and pretty soon you’ll be rolling in the benjamins.
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Start-an-Independent-Record-Label-and-Get-Artists-to-Sign-With-Your-Label&id=1348456 3 April 2009.

An Example of a Successful Record Producer

Chris Jones
Mr. Jenkins
Honors Eng 11
3 April 2009
An Example of a Successful Music Producer
Almost everyone knows who Simon Cowell is. His name is synonymous with the hit TV show American Idol. He is also known for his jerk like comments on the show and has established himself as the man the fans want to hate, and he’s paid good money for that role. This article talks about the life of Mr. Cowell, and his journey from a mail clerk at EMI, to a multi-millionaire executive in the music business.
Simon Cowell is the son of an executive at EMI Publishing. As a child he was raised by nannies a before being sent to numerous boarding schools before finally dropping out at the age of sixteen. After a couple of early goes at the music business through a couple of upstart record labels he began that both flopped in the end he began a cordial relationship with the big names at BMG and eventually turned it into a job there where he had success and was finally able to crack the shell of the music producing business. He has since moved on to other more lucrative jobs, such as his stint as the American Idol Judge, and the show has grown immensely popular and he along with it. At the end of the shows season, when a winner is crowned, he makes an album with them, and no doubt gets a slice of the sales. Simon Cowell has turned his humble beginnings of a mail clerk into a million dollar crown jewel of an occupation. His latest project is the classical quartet Il Divo, whom he is producer of. When asked in an interview about his success as an entrepreneur, he says, "you have to do it by the head, not the heart – and I run my businesses that way." (Article, 1)
SOURCE: Simon Cowell Music Mogul Millionaire. 3 April 2009. http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/p/simoncowell.htm .

Music Producer Job Description

Chris Jones
Mr. Jenkins
26th March, 2009
4th Period
Music Producer Job Description
Summary: In this video on youtube, a professional music producer offers a job description of the occupation of music producer. From communicating with the artist, to mixing beats, to recording a track and getting the sound just right. All of this is discussed in this video and more.
Response: In the video the producer explains how it all works. Basically a producer is an artist in the field of music. The producer takes the compilation of sounds from the instruments and singer, and mixes them and molds them into to something that sounds good. Thus the result of all this work is a song. The main goal of the producer is to communicate with the artist. The producer can sometimes make the beat before meeting the artist, or will collaborate with them on the beat. The job of the producer is to make the artist sound good, to communicate with them and develop their skills and talents. This is all relevant when he says the producers job is "to make the artist better than they even think they can be." (youtube, interview) The producer makes the artist. The basic progression of a song getting made starts with the producer creating a beat whether it be recreating an old one or humming something new and evolving it into something that sounds right. Then the artist is called in, they add their twist to the beat and then from there throughout production the producer tries to mold the sound around the artist and their talents. The field of music production consists of many jobs, producer is just one of them. You can also be an executive or a scout for new talent among other things, it just depends on what you want to do.
Source: "Music Producer Career Information: Music Producer Job Description." Interview. (2008)
.

How to Become a Music Producer

Chris Jones
Mr. Jenkins
26th March, 2009
4th Period
How to Become a Music Producer
Summary: For one of my multimedia sources I watched a youtube video on music production. In the video the guy is a real professional music producer. He gives some tips on how to crack into the music business, as well as tell some stories of past times in his career as a producer.
Response: My first reaction to this video was not much. I had expected him to tell me about getting started in the music business and he did. What I thought was interesting was how he started out with humble beginnings and how he began mixing beats for free. It gave him some good experience and when he moved to Miami he was ready for business. He told a story of a client that came in and was pretty good, so the client purchased three tracks from him, that he was in charge of mixing and they paid him good money. Now he doesn’t give an exact dollar amount however from the story it sounds as though it was a pretty lucrative deal. The next story he told was about a younger client whose mother was really pressing for her fifteen year old daughter to get into the music business. He brought them in for a studio visit, sat down with them and figured out what type of artist she wanted to be and wrote out a song and recorded it. He pretty much controlled all aspects of this deal, from meeting with the client to producing the song and making it sound great, and this is just a testament to all the responsibility a music producer has to take on. Finally when he says what he considers an "entry level position", it was interesting because he basically said, do whatever it takes. From getting coffee to being a crew member for a band, anything to get you in.
Source: "Music Producer Career Information: How to Become a Music Producer." Interview. (2008) .