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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: More power pop labels, please |
| Date | Tue, 03 Aug 2004 17:39:32 -0400 |
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AT Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 16:45:57 Jeff wrote:
>Firstly, thanks, on behalf of all listers here, for the kind and
>generous offer. Second, can you or anyone else recommend a book (or a
>series of books?) that we might read in the meantime as we're otherwise
>tossing the "hey kids, let's start a record label" idea around inside
>our hard and pointy heads? I understand that "starting your own record
>label" may not be the type of subject that lends itself to being
>comprehensively covered in any one book, but I'm hoping someone can
>recommend a title that I can track down and digest. Thanks in advance,
>gang.
I know this was directed at Bruce, but the ONLY text I read when I fired up
Bullseye was a little 'do it yourself' book called "Some Straight Talk About
The Music Business" by Mona Coxson. It's Canadian, it's out of print and
probably wouldn't apply to the 'business' as we know it today.
You're really going to find out more by just talking to people like Bruce or
Anna or even Ralph Alfonso -- as Ralph's worked on both sides of the
industry....as a major label guy, as a major independent guy, and as an
indie label auteur.
My education has been from asking a LOT of questions, absorbing the good
points of what everyone else is doing and ignoring the negative side or the
moral and ethically reprehensible side of the music biz (i.e. schmoozing,
payola, and the destructive undercurrent of substance abuse). The people
that taught me the most were usually guys like Ralph.....and I still drive
him crazy from time to time :-)
I remember cornering Terry McBride from Nettwerk Records in a conference
room at the Marriott Marquis in 1989 during the New Music Seminar asking him
a hundred questions. He remembered me years later when I called his office
to ask him about something else....a professional courtesy he didn't have to
extend....but one I appreciate none the less. Now if he'd just lend me Sarah
McLachlan for an album or two....
Anyway, you need a little start-up money, spirit and the ability to close
your eyes when you go over the edge or lose that first $1000 on a project
you REALLY believe in.
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPages
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