DIY Anyone?

• 14th Apr 2009

With the internet forcing record companies to revise their business models, would bands be better off taking matters into their own hands?

Trent Reznor thinks so… After twittering about Chris Cornell he has now spoke out about his feelings on record companies. After recently speaking to contact music, Reznor is encouraging bands to follow his lead and ditch their record labels. As you’ll know Nine Inch Nails broke away from their contract with Universal back in 2007. Speaking to contactmusic.com he said:

“Anyone who's an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact – no idea. I'm surprised they know how to use email. They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more. They're in such a state of denial it's impossible for them to understand what's happening.
“One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, 'Wait – you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the f**k made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they'll sign anything' – like I did. When we found out we'd been released it was like, 'Thank God!'. But 20 minutes later it was, 'Uh-oh, now what are we going to do?' It was incredibly liberating, and it was terrifying.”

Of course illegal downloading is detrimental to artists, however legal downloading isn’t. So could it be more beneficial for artists to ditch the labels? Reznor encourages the artist to take the marketing of their music into their own hands. Maybe the DIY ethos of Punk is once again going to be the way forward for artists to gain control over their music. However, it’s not really that simple. Major record companies have the finances that are necessary to keep the rest of the cogs in the process of making music turning. This is one dilemma that looks set to continue; after all revolutionizing an industry that has been built up over many years is not an easy task.

So, it’s back to work after four days of Easter fun and frolics. Hope you all got lots of eggs, if you didn’t console yourself by taking a look over the website. As always we have news and reviews. We have the latest videos from your favourite bands and there are competitions with lots of goodies to giveaway. We also have cd and live reviews. And if that wasn’t enough get yourself along to some of the following gigs. There’s Scarlet Harlots, Paper Heroes, The Anomalies, Polly Scattergood and Them Is Me. You can also check out our featured artist Flogging Molly. The seven piece Celtic punk rock band released their single ‘Float’ yesterday and we have the accompanying video on the site.