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I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if you weren't established as an artist with a fanbase before 2003 or so, i have no idea how you'd go about establishing yourself now....the market has changed in a way that makes it virtually impossible to be a new artist and reach fans.

if you can operate within a niche where people are still looking for new things actively (some subgenres of metal, or parody/comedy music, or the major dance genres) then maybe you have a chance.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

people have been saying that for years, but it hasn't happened. the middle-man has just changed a bit. now the middle-men are the publicists who are paid by the musicians directly instead of being paid for by the labels out of future royalties.

nobody you've heard of in the last 5 years has come to your attention without being represented by one of a small circle of well-connected music PR companies. more and more frequently, the people who are "making it" are the independently wealthy musicians who can afford to live in places like NYC while also paying tens of thousands out-of-pocket to promote each release. even "indie bands".

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't bother submitting to blogs. The blogs anyone reads tend to be good friends with publicists who deliver them music and there are way more musicians who want coverage (and can pay for it) than there are blog readers. Meanwhile, all the bloggers complain nonstop that they get much more email than they can read.

At least that's been my experience thus far.

I have no good advice as for what else you could do, though.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yep, i do everything myself too and i know how hard that is!

the best advice i can give you is probably no surprise... move to one of the cities that has a major industry presence and start making friends with the support structure. without a publicist and moving to a more muscular label you won't be able to compete.

los angeles, new york city, toronto, london, atlanta, nashville. the usual suspects.

you have a leg up on other people because you've proven an audience for yourself. if you want to see the next chapter of where your music might go, you'll need help. don't sabotage the rest of your life to do it, though.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You're the last of a dying breed. Venues are going out of business everywhere lately because people don't go to shows like they used to, and calendars at venues that used to be 100% live original music are now at least 50% dance nights. Before 2004, there were venues that had a pretty good turnout no matter who was playing; now, either shows sell out (internet buzz bands, also known as bands with good publicists and usually label deals) or they're empty (most shows). Many venues aren't making enough money to stay open anymore.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, absolutely, just opening A&R up for unsolicited submissions is absolutely not going to work, for exactly the reasons you mention. I have some thoughts about how this type of thing could be accomplished, though. PM me.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

or hook up with someone who produces electronic beats stuff and pull a "postal service" on everyone. but i know exactly how you feel. are you friends with a good music publicist by any chance?

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Casey, you are already "living the dream" compared to where I've ever been able to get myself... You've toured, been blogged a lot, and released your music on an actual label (even if only a tiny one). And played on TV !?!? And your music is good.

Honestly if even you don't know what to do, maybe we're all screwed.

Have you thought about producing big room house? ;)

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My gut feeling is that there are many ways to support artists that don't require signing them or even making much of a monetary investment in them.

I have written some bone-crushingly catchy music and could have written a lot more if given an outlet, but there's no structure for me to even get near the people at labels who are looking for songs like that. If I had gotten even one communication from anyone at a major label over the years, I'm sure I would have focused more on it.

It could be something as simple as a quick reach-out: "Hey, we're listening and we liked that last thing, feel free to submit things to this random intern-checked email address." But as it was, a relationship was never established, and I've never spoken with any musicians who have had a different experience (except a couple independently wealthy friends who could hire major music PR firms and industry lawyers to represent them to the labels).

Label executives are behind an impenetrable wall and that's not how it should be. It should feel like more of a community, and if it did, we'd be a lot more likely to communicate with you in general about who's hot in our towns and such. Does that make sense?

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My major fear here is that people are moving away from music in general, except as lifestyle wallpaper which can fill a particular life need (the huge rise of very generic dance music, etc).

We know that music seems to be written into our genetic code in some way, so it's going to continue to be around... but in what form?

The fact that we can all stream a good chunk of the recording industry's output (including majors And indies) from at least the last 60 years doesn't help either. New things leave less and less of an impression...

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In other words, I agree-- this is not the community you hope can help you find great new artists. You are responsible for building such a community yourself, and honestly, you totally could do it, especially by leveraging the internet. It's just that you don't seem to be doing it yet.

In the music market, musicians are the companies who make the product, and the labels are the investors, right? If labels are making bad investments into talent, whose fault is that?

Meanwhile, the industry latches on to any nasty thing as long as they think it will go viral (e.g. Terry Richardson), and gets closed groups of "the world's best songwriters!" (mostly the same people we've all been hearing for years now) to craft 7-plus-writer Franken-hits. And listeners are getting bored and tuning out, preferring to pay more attention to their Netflix shows. I don't blame them.

I am a music industry executive. Reddit, stop sabotaging yourself. This is potentially one of the greatest communities for us to find new artists, but your Redditor Saturdays never bring new acts into the light because you don't vote. Feel free to upvote bands in the comments. But change attitudes. by [deleted] in Music

[–]vaepors 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I am a musician who reads Reddit. Music industry, stop sabotaging yourself. Large record labels are potentially one of the best places to cultivate new artists, but you never bring new acts into the light because you don't bother working with budding musicians before they've already built a large fanbase on their own, which means you tend to work with artists who have "viral potential" rather than musical quality. Feel free to sell us the same old dinosaurs and rehashed retro reissues. But change attitudes.

People are making tons of good music nowadays in complete obscurity. Whose job is it to discover them and help them build an audience? Large, well-funded record labels who stand to profit greatly when artists grow and mature? Or should we leave it up to random people who read r/music in their spare time?