Quote:
If your friends were selling albums by the thousands nationwide, what reason did they have to get a deal with a label?
Well actually they never sought out a record deal. In fact, even as little as a month before they finally signed they were still working other jobs to make a living. They turned down the first offers and were pretty adamant that they'd only sign if was a deal that really worked for them. But the truth is, even with the number of CDs they were selling and the amount they were charging for concerts, they still couldn't make a living off the music (the problem of having seven people in the band). The deal they landed in the end was pretty nice, better than most newly-signed artists, and it allowed them to transition to doing music full time. They pretty much got the record company to let them do what they want and select the producer they wanted- I forgot who it was but it was a pretty big name- worked with the Indigo Girls and such. When they started touring they didn't have to open up for anyone because they'ed already spent several years paying their dues.

And I think they're pretty happy now (six or seven years later) and making the music they want to. I don't like it as much, but then they didn't ask me! But the thing is, when they went with the label they did it on their own terms and didn't get taken for a ride the way many do.

As for why they signed: Just about everyone I knew listened to them (of course, we all lived in their hometown) before they were signed, but the local Christian radio station simply would not play their music. Once they were signed they started playing it all the time. That's why people need record deals. They had tons of word of mouth exposure before, but once they were signed their exposure went through the roof. I remember being on my Honeymoon in Hawii and mentioning to another couple that I was from Houston and they immediatly started talking about my friend's band; they'ed heard of them on the radio- not word of mouth.

The other thing the record deal got them was a great CD. You can still purchase their pre-label stuff and it sounds so much weaker than what they were able to do once signed. Since then things have changed a bit and it's much easier to put togegether a high quality album, but the label definitely helped the afford to do the CD they really wanted. The interesting thing is that now they're not very fond of that first national CD (I love it, though).
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.