DVRSFY wrote:theres a lot of really good music out there at the moment thats unsigned and deserves to be released, so im thinkin of starting my own digital label with the possibility of vinyl releases in the future.. it will focus primarily on the more leftfield end of the dubstep spectrum, house and garage..
Firstly, you're on the right lines with your motives. Don't do it for money, do it for the love of the music, and the respect of the producers you want to push. Nothing else will get you there - and don't expect to make much profit to begin with.
DVRSFY wrote:do you need to register your label as a company?
If you're going to run it as a business, then it's probably a good idea - but it will mean you need to pay National Insurance contributions, and also paperwork for budgets etc. Also if you make over a certain amount, you'll be eligible to pay tax too.
DVRSFY wrote:how does it work in terms of distribution? is it the same as with vinyl, i.e some sort of digital equivalent to st holdings, or can you cut out the middleman and go straight to stores like juno, boomkat, digital tunes, beatport etc?
Digital distribution can either be done by yourself, applying to the retailers for an account, and uploading the tracks yourself to each place. This is time consuming, but ensures you get the most profit. Problem is, the big hitters like Beatport and iTunes will probably not be so keen to sign up a label for an account if the label is not well known, or guaranteed to sell quite a bit.
The other option is to get a digital distribution deal with someone like Nu-Urban, Z-Audio or another company that do this. You then sign a contract with them - when you have a release, you send them the mastered wav files, and they distribute it to all the stores - and are more likely to be able to get you on to the bigger stores like iTunes.
The third option is to do it yourself, but through a website or service that claims to get your stuff on to a lot of stores. CD Baby has something I think, and there are alot of other sites that boast this sort of thing. I've no experience with them, but they usually charge per release for the service, whereas the option above with digital distro, just has the distro take a cut off your profit, meaning no initial outgoings for you in that department.
DVRSFY wrote:whats the industry standard in terms of the cut of the profits which the different parties take? label, artist, online shop etc
In my experience the retailer takes 50%, and passes 50% back to the next in line - distribution, who then take a cut, and pass the rest back to the label - the label then halfs that and passes half back tot he artist. By the time you get down to the artist - the cut is usually pittance, and more of a token. In Echodub's case - I pool all the profit and put it towards joint ventures, and upkeep like hosting, mastering and other stuff.
DVRSFY wrote:how would you go about getting the tunes mastered to a professional standard? sometimes artists can make incredible tunes but aren't the best at mastering..
There are plenty mastering houses around the UK - some better than others. I'd recommend Bob Macc at Subvert mastering, since he's a top bloke, and always does a great job for me. You just need to put your feelers out for someone who will do you a good job. Plenty options really.
DVRSFY wrote:how does it work in terms of tax payable in the uk?
I *think* you have to be making quite a bit of profit before you're eligible for tax payment, but as mentioned above, national insurance is something you should be paying - ut if you ahve a day job, that might be covered already.
DVRSFY wrote:any help would be much appreciated
A couple of other things worth mentioning...
Artwork - a good presence and visual style with your artwork is good for your promotion. If people recognise your visual style, theny'll associate it with your label and your sound - this will help you promote lesser known names, if people know what to expect in terms of sound.
Don't be afraid to specialise. If you try and cover too broad a spectrum, you might find people can't relate to your output. Alot of the bigger labels tend to have a "sound" associated with them (I feel anyway) and so people might pick up a Hot Flush, or a Hyperdub release because they know and trust the label, even if they're not familiar with the artist.
As for physical output - I can't help so much with that, but for putting out vinyl, getting a P&D deal with someone is a good idea - although hard to come by these days. P&D is publishing and distribution, meaning you provide the tracks, and the P&D people will cover creation of the vinyl, pressing and printing of the artwork as well as distributing it to stores and then taking a cut off the top for the service.
If you want any more information on these things, you're welcome to hit me up on AIM - DFRNTdubstep and if i have time, I can probably go in to a bit more detail.
Echodub might not be the shining pinnacle of a label/collective done well - but I'm sure I can shed some light on any mysteries for you if need be.
