More and more musicians are taking more control over their music. The most common route is for the artist is to build their name organically and build a strong following before they scout for a label that will sign them. Having some sort of presence and recognition provides them a very strong leverage to take more control of their name and music even when the major labels sign them. Some of the success stories are Colbie Caillat and Justin Bieber. These two used youtube as their jump off point. The labels noticed them as the number of views increased. Since they already have a proof that they have the power to bring in the sales, the labels treated them with much more respect.

There are other big bands that were signed to a major label and slowly transitioned to controlling their own music. Linkin Park and Oasis are two of those bands. Linkin Park is signed up with Warner Bros. and has sold more than 50 million albums. Early on, they learned to establish a very strong relationship with their fans using the digital space. They never gave their label the control over their database. WB knows that there are not only now financially equipped to make their own record, they also don’t need to the traditional channel to sell their music. Even their concerts are now being pre-sold. They ask their fans to sign up to a site if they want Linkin Park to perform in their country. If they have enough numbers, then they just look for a promoter that would mount the show.

They have enough confidence in their music and abilities to even allow their fans to listen to their songs before they are released. Yes, they know that a lot of their fans are online and can easily listen to their samples for free. It would be safe to say that majority of computer owners have good speakers. That is why it has become a mandatory for all music lovers out there.  If the market likes what they are hearing, they just go ahead and download it. Recently, many artists are also releasing their songs through non-traditional formats like using a USB instead of a CD.

The digital space is really becoming a friend of independent musicians and if the artists are aware on how to capitalize on this, marketing their music and their band will not be so hard. The USB packaging is a good idea as production is cheaper.

Issued by Abel Mens

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