Hello everyone!
Since this is the first post in this brand spanking new blog of mine, I guess I’ll start from the top and introduce myself. I’m Sam, and Rainhat is a musical project of mine that I’m going to post stuff about in this blog. I’m a musician, singer and songwriter, and (hopefully) up-and-coming famous rock star. The music industry is notoriously fickle, so actually “making it” as a rock star is by no means just a matter of writing a good song and singing it decently. The world is full of seriously talented musicians and songwriters, so if that was all it took, we’d have an incredible surplus of music on our hands, if there is such a thing when it comes to music and entertainment. No, making it big is a rather weird combination of good luck, knowing all the right people at the right time, being in the right places at the right times, loads of hard work and at least a decent amount of talent. At least if you by “making it big” mean getting signed with a major record label and then becoming famous and selling loads of records and doing loads of gigs. Nothing wrong with that, it’s what millions of people dream of.
I’m not such a big fan of major record labels. Did you know that within the terms of a “normal” contract between a band and a label, the label will start making money long before the band sees a cent from record sales? That is, if the band manages to sell enough records in the first place to make any money. In a way it’s fair, I guess. The label provides the studio and people working in it, the marketing, publicity, manufacture of CDs, etc. So they get to make money from the first CD sold. But on the other hand, the label charges the band for all of this stuff and takes back its costs from the royalties of sold CDs that would go to the band. So the band doesn’t actually earn anything until all the costs have been paid back to the label first, after having sold quite many thousand CDs. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like major record labels. Another reason is the whole copyright thing. I’m not so keen on the normal kind of copyright that applies to a band’s music either. Some kind of copyright is good, I wouldn’t want just anyone who feels like it making money off of my work for free, so I’m all for copyright. But I’m not a fan of fans not being able to listen to a band they like without having to pay loads of money for it.
So, for these reasons, I’m going to do this whole thing the independent way instead, and on my own terms. Rather than relying on the (costly) help of a record label, I will use the tools available to me to market and sell myself and record my own music.
All the songs I write and record as Rainhat will be made available online. Anyone who likes my music can download and share my songs with others online perfectly legally. I do need to make money somehow, so there will also be an option to pay money to download the songs. It just won’t be the only option. If you like my music and want to support me, you can buy the songs for a dollar a piece. Or you can download them for free. It’s up to you.
Why? Because I believe it’s a win/win situation. A band is nothing without its fans. Fans get to download and share my music for free, and that way my music reaches more people than it would otherwise. It’s free publicity for me. So assuming my music is good enough, and enough people become fans, I will start making money from doing shows. Fans get music they like without being charged through their nose for CDs or downloads, and I get to continue doing what I love. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Now, all that’s left is just the hard work part. Writing, composing, recording, mastering, marketing, promoting, playing and succeeding. This is my livelyhood at stake here, but it’s also a kind of experiment to answer the question: “Can you leave luck and sucking up to the right people out of the equation, and actually make it with only talent and hard work?” I know I have a fair amount of talent, and I’m certainly going to work hard for this. Will this take off? Time will tell.
Wish me luck! – Or actually, don’t wish me luck. Instead, once I’ve put up some music online, download it, listen to it, and if you like it, share it with your friends.
