The Dream of Self-Made CDs

Mar 4, 2002 01:04 · 148 words · 1 minute read

The NY Times reports on the increase in people recording their own CDs. This article indirectly highlights one big thing that the major labels do: filtering and promotion. The advent of inexpensive, high quality multitrack recording and Internet-based distribution has dramatically reduced the cost of entry into “professional” music.

As much as people hate to think that the major labels determine which music is “good”, the fact of the matter is that most people don’t spend hours and hours searching for music. They either hear it on the radio (which requires promo dollars), or they hear of it through word of mouth. Word of mouth will always be a mechanism through which independent artists can gain some popularity. But, there’s nothing like major label money for getting an artist known. (Of course, just having major label money doesn’t guarantee any success. The majors release 6,400 albums a year.)