BevOh wrote:
Well if you would liek to help, i would more than welcome your input. im researchign things as i go, probably not the best way to do stuff but it's how i have started doing it as i want to get this up and running for DSF as fast as i can.
Id love to help, thats exactly what Im doing here, giving my input. As someone who's been working through the process of starting a proper label for quite some time now Im not interested in managing this for you or anything though. I just want you to see your severely rushing into this, Ive been battling legal work for going onto a year now, and I still havent launched my own label.
Why 'as fast as you can'? Isnt that going to sacrifice professionalism, promotion time, quality control, ect.? All of which are key foundations to establishing a new label?
I have a mate in mind for a permanent artist and have already got a few more offers in here as you can see.
Cool, finding the artists is the easiest part of managing a label, Im minimally conerned about that, youll have people lining up by the boatloads, it happens.
I will be looking at distribution very shortly
See, heress your problem though. Distributors want to know alot of things, most importantly, can you sell, are you able to manage your own taxes/trademarks/ect, they are going to be investing their money into your business afterall, you better have a good business plan to get them on board, as most of them are VERY picky. Have you even looked up the names, terms and conditions, application processes, ect. of any distros? This really should have come before a .com... And definately should come before you get people excited about starting a label. You might get turned down, then what?
and ive started looking around at sample contracts just to get an idea of what would need to be provisioned
Get in contact with a lawyer, please. Dont trust the internet on everything, especially not in regards to your contracts.
but yeah i know that i am not the most knowledgable on the subject but i'm trying, because it seems this is what alot of dsf'ers wantt.
I think alot of DSFers want a release, yeah, totally true. But also, I think they want it to be with a company they can trust on a legal and personal level, a company they know will still be around in 6months and not flaked out on them... Also, I think alot of the people you are looking at are at a stage where they are confident in their music but rushing into the release process, a mistake I and many others have made. You have to know your product will sell, because like I said, this is a world of minimum sales and money-down investments.
Why dont you try what i said, contact a small business lawyer, check both U.S. and U.K. trademark availabilities and apply, talk to some established labels and see how they did it, and apply for distribution after all thats said n done?
