A record label, in 2016? Who needs such a thing? With the internet the way it is anyone can buy a new MacBook with garageband, load up some free loops or find a beat online, and put their “latest hit” out for the world to purchase for $.99. That’s great but then that so called “latest hit” goes on Soundcloud, gets shared to your friends on Facebook, and whatever other social media sites you may be a part of and no one wants to buy it, thats when you start with the attitude posts about how the game has changed, or how modern music is all fake auto tune, or whatever silly argument you want to use to try to justify that no one bought your song when actually its probably because, either your song didn’t sound that great because you used programs and equipment that you’re not that familiar with, you didn’t put enough time into arranging your song so it was cohesive, or maybe your song just isn’t that good. Oh and mom and grandma likes on Facebook don’t count because those are the two most likely people to like anything you do. Ok settle down, this isn’t an attack on anyone. This is however a problem with people thinking they are going to get famous from one mediocre song that they may have recorded and “produced” themselves and shared on social media sites. I suppose it can happen, but it needs to be good. Like really good, or at least the best hook that anyone has ever heard so a label will buy it from you and change it completely and let the latest sixteen year old girl superstar sing it. Anyway it is absolutely possible for one person/artist to write a great song, record the music, and do all the leg work themselves and be successful, however it is a long road and a lot of personal time invested. With all this nonsense being said, there are things I went through in many bands over the years that never amounted to anything. Some because of lack of talent. Some lack of direction, but mostly being naive about the industry and realizing a gigging band just cant put in the time needed to do all the work that a label will do. Then it doesn’t take long to get burnt out, the band splits, and you have a lot of wasted time you’ll never get back. Because of these situations I always wanted to start a small independent label.
One main thing that a label will do, obviously, is find talent. This subject could go on for pages because every label, artist, and person has a different view on this, so I’ll talk about the way that NEF tries to find talent. Talent is a word that some people have mentioned to me offends them, personally I couldn’t care less what offends anyone, get over it, because it seems to refer to a person or group as an object or thing to be sold. Exactly. At NEF we say talent because that’s a huge part of what we are looking for. A talented individual or group that knows what direction they want to go in and has a clear vision of where they want to take their craft. Before anything is ever decided we sit and talk as a group about these directions and what NEF can do to help these artists achieve their goals. Personally I’ve never thought about changing an artist’s name or appearance, at least not in a major way. From there we start listening. Most of the artists that come in already have their own music which is great, especially if it already sounds good then its more likely they would want to talk about mobile production. We will get into that at another time. So we listen to any music they have, read songs they might want to record, and decide on what songs will work for the style and image that the artist is going for. This lets the artist stay in their comfort zone which makes them more productive and lets them enjoy their music. If we have to record then that’s fine too, that’s probably my favorite part of the whole thing. We say we have a recording budget, but we own the studio so, yes it costs money to run it and hire engineers for specific styles, but we don’t have to be that strict with the recording budget. After the recording is done however, that’s when its time to get serious. A lot needs to happen to finish and release an album, even an EP. Usually a release date has already been decided, but Mixing and mastering need to be figured out. While that is going on we are in contact with some good local clubs that know we wont bring them anything that’s not worth hearing, so we can usually set up some early opening shows for an artist, which is the artists most important role now. If they don’t perform then no one will know to like them. Its totally different playing a song on the internet or seeing it performed live by the person or people who are on stage exposing their soul to a group of people they have never met, knowing that every word, every step is being judged, and if its not good enough all the months of work were for nothing. All of the members of NEF are local music veterans who have been through these types of situations. I myself have finished a performance to hear a couple sympathy claps as my heart sank and had to make the walk of shame off the stage. Hopefully if that happens you don’t bite the dust getting down, that’s embarrassing. But a big part of artist development is informing the artists about the good and the bad that may happen and helping them know how to react, and them knowing that they have your support. A show I’ll never forget, opening for a band that was way cooler and better than mine, a couple songs in a string breaks. Ok I can handle one. Boing goes another, and the amp blows leaving me to scramble to hook up a borrowed amp. We finish and I’m packing up totally embarrassed and someone walks buy and says,”Nice save, that’s Rock and Roll baby.”