stARTled Salmon

You might be wondering... how do I release my music on stARTled Salmon Records?  And how does it all work?

Well, first of all... a brief history of record labels.  Might appear long-winded, but if you can't get through it, you're probably not going to be able to understand the sort of working relationships we're striving to create.

Back in the day, (1890s-1970s) musicians HAD to be on a big record label, because making and replicating a high-quality recording was fabulously expensive, and well beyond what most casual musicians could afford.  Record labels controlled the industry with an iron fist (even controlling radio through a form of bribery called "payola"), and were essential to musicians' success.  However, because of the huge costs of everything the record label did, the artist earned a very small percentage off of album sales.  That's why the one dude in Run DMC worked for years driving a garbage truck, and people like Vanilla Ice and Rihanna are actually broke as a joke . bankrupt.

In the 1980s or so, this began to change.  Recording equipment -- and as a result, the process of recording -- became far more affordable, meaning musicians could reasonably afford to cut their own album, paying out of pocket.  As CDs became a popular medium, replication grew less costly.  At this point, record labels were valuable to artists mostly for the fact that they could provide promotion, marketing, and distribution -- they could get CDs into stores where people would find and buy them.  Nearly all of the big CD distributors work ONLY with labels... meaning you couldn't (and still can't) just go out and convince Revolver to start distributing your self-made album nationally without the label connection.  Lower overhead costs meant more, smaller labels, which were able to offer musicians better deals -- better percentages of sales from their music.

Nowadays, thanks to ipods, mp3s, zunes, and other such technological wizardly, more and more and more people pay to download music.  Digital distribution via places like itunes, Amazon, emusic, and CDBaby is relatively simple, even for artists without a label.  It's just a matter of getting your material into a professional-sounding, well-organized, decent-enough-looking format.  Musicians can record and release their music -- for digital download, and in CD format -- at a low cost, and handle marketing and promotion online... and most importantly, via touring.  With no middleman, artists keep the lion's share of the profits, and hardworking independent musicians often earn WAY more taking the "do it yourself" route than they do signing a huge deal with Geffen.  For some of the busier musicians who have established themselves well through touring, it makes sense to get that extra "boost" by working with a label that takes care of the larger scale distribution, and offers extra promotion and marketing that the musicians don't have time to bother with anymore.  You don't need an enormous company (a "major label") to do this kinda stuff for you.  A small team with a handful of interns can accomplish pretty much everything necessary.  But for the most part, nowadays, there is no real need for a big record label.  At all.  Unless you feel need to shoot a commercial-grade music video on 35mm film, and have Sophia Coppola direct it. And you may have noticed... major labels work less and less with creative and original people these days, because most of those people are smart enough to figure out that DIY is far more profitable, with no creative restrictions

For many people nowadays, having a record deal is more about the prestige that comes with saying "I'm on a record label!" than it is about actual function / profit.  Some creative people, however, really do need help getting their stuff together... and that's where the stARTled Salmon comes in!

Still reading?  Okay -- good.

After all of that, are you wondering why you'd want to be on any sort of record label in the first place?  Also good.  I'm proud of you!  

There are actually some good reasons...

Here is why you'd want to be on stARTled Salmon Records:

1.  You will be linked and promoted with other Ketchikan and AK artists, both in our retail space, and online.  This means customers of other people's stuff will discover your stuff, too!

2.  We help promote our products online, and in the real world.

3.  We can help you get your album together, into the right format for making CDs, or for digital distribution (itunes).

4.  You get to say I AM ON A RECORD LABEL.  Which most people think is wicked-cool!  But more importantly, you are saying "I am showing solidarity with other Ketchikan and Alaskan musicians.  I believe in the powers of diversity, and variety, and locally-made music."

5.  You can go around and tour, or whatever... and we'll take care of selling your stuff through the mail and in our store, and giving you money for it.  You don't have to worry about mailing out CDs, sitting with a bunch of inventory on hand -- we'll take care of that.

So pretty much, you get to use our name, and we help promote you, and tackle the inconvenience of selling/mailing your CDs.

Okay -- so what about MONEY?!

THE WAY OUR "DEAL" WORKS

-- You keep all of the rights to your stuff.  We do not make anything "exclusive."  You can sign to any other label at any time, without giving us anything.  We don't have any rights to your stuff.

-- We split what we make selling your product in our store, and online -- 50/50.  It's hard to be more fair than 50/50.  You keep all the money you make selling your album at shows, etc. -- and don't have to give any to us.  AT ALL.  You keep ALL the money you make selling your own stuff independent of us.  That means like, 100%.  (After all, you did the work of selling it... not us!)

In essence, it's exactly the same as selling your stuff on consignment in our distro, except your CD says "stARTled Salmon Records" on it, which makes it look cooler and more legit... and we work harder to help you sell more stuff!

We're trying to keep things as fair, cool, and simple as possible -- and REALISTIC for the 21st century.  Not be David Geffen.  You are keeping all your rights, and the vast majority of the profits -- in fact, all the profits on what you sell independent of us.

SO HOW DO YOU GET STARTED?

It's pretty easy, actually.

STEP 1:  Record an album of original music, and bring it to us.  If you record it at the stARTled Salmon, we will almost certainly help you release your music as a stARTled Salmon Records release.  If you are an Alaskan musician who recorded your music elsewhere -- send it to us anyway.  We will probably still help you release it through our (un)label.

STEP 2:  If you can't figure it out on your own, we will be glad to help you get your album into the formats you want to sell it in... itunes, CDBaby, amazon, emusic... or good ol' fashioned CDs.  You will pay the miniscule fees and start up costs associated with this (CDBaby's services cost only $35 -- check their website, and CDs through our replicator cost $2 each, full color at 300 dpi, shrink-wrapped, and shipped... even in small quantities).  You will probably easily and quickly recoop all of this money... like, after you sell 10 CDs.  I doubt you'd have to spend more than $100 to get going, with your music in stores all over the web, and an armful of CDs ready to roll... unless you are extremely intense.

STEP 3:  We help you sell your stuff.  It's that simple.  If you get sick of us, or want to sign with Interscope, you can do so at any time.  We will pat you on the back.  And not expect any extra dough.

No percentages, no LA-style sneaky recooping of costs, no Phil Spector stealing your rights and controlling your material forever... just plain and simple "us helping you sell stuff, and you using a cool name."

Interested?  Give us a holler at 247-2787 or jsn0jsn AT aol.com