DIY musician series (part 4): 'going it alone' and its implications

Going it alone means being prepared to take full responsibility for production, marketing, sales, promotion, music composition and selection, studio booking, album packaging, distribution, administration, contracts, payment (in and out) and much more.

It is also true to say that many artists who have had record contracts and left the labels that they were signed to, have struggled to maintain the standard set by those who introduced them to the industry. Regrettably, some successful artists get over-confident and get caught up in the hype that fame can bring, and neglect to pay attention to the process of developing their careers. This lack of knowledge can bring an artist's career crashing down when left to manage it alone.

Truly independent artists may be in control, but they have to know and do everything themselves. The digital revolution, which includes ever faster computing and a worldwide web of interconnected humans and companies, has been described as 'both a blessing and a curse' for musicians. It is a blessing because new recording technologies like Pro Tools and Reaper have made record production a lot more accessible to the average musician and because the internet provides innumerable direct marketing and distribution possibilities.

It has also made licensing documentation and guidelines (albeit somewhat liberal ones) available through sites like Creative Commons. However, it is a curse because it has enabled the monster of piracy, and this is a big problem, especially for independent artists, to control. Finally, it is a curse because too many artists are too naive to understand their rights, and too easily sign them away with abandon, especially in respect with some of the "terms and conditions" that websites apply on sign-up. Take a look at one of MySpace's sign-up clauses:

"You grant us broad rights to use and exploit Content you post or make available via the MySpace Services, your profile and activity information, and your name, persona and likeness, as more fully explained below. You will not be entitled to compensation or attribution even if we or others profit from such use. However, you will remain the owner and fully responsible for your Content and for ensuring that its use in connection with the MySpace Services do not violate any third party rights or any law. Your right to use Myspace Content, User Content, and Third Party Content is very limited and revocable."

Now you wouldn't sign that clause if it was put on a piece of paper by a record label, would you? Yet thousands of independent artists have done just that by signing up on the MySpace website. This is particularly one nasty clause, but every web service has them, in varying degrees of invasiveness. If you are a 'do it yourself' artist, you need to be very aware of this.

The artist who chooses to go it alone will undoubtedly now be able to create master's far more easily and cheaply than ever before. He will also be able to market more cheaply than ever before and decide himself whether to sell or give away his music, he can offer incentives like free downloads with album purchases, and he can use any number of internet-based strategies to help his sales. But on the other hand, he will also find it so much harder to protect his master from piracy, especially on the web, than a record label (or publisher) would.