Setting up your own label is such an easy thing to do. Years ago it took money upfront and you had to have everything from pressing plants to graphic designers all in place for your records to be released. Nowadays if you are savvy enough you can do this all yourself. So I will outline the most important steps you need to take in order to get going. They range from the very obvious to the more detailed aspects.



1. Setting up your own record label



1. Come up with a name that is in tune with your music, So if you are a Disco House label, then something colourful and funky will compliment the music. Think of established labels in your chosen genre and look at the words and names they use, then apply those tactics to your brand.





2. Create the obvious social media pages for your label. This gives you an instant platform to put out your tracks that you have uploaded on Sound-cloud and You-tube. Don't over do it on social media though, I would just use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and maybe Snap-chat. That's about all you need really.





3. Make sure that you have a label page at Sound-cloud and You Tube which are separate from your personal one. This gives you a more professional look when that channel is strictly for the releases. My You Tube channel does have both my tutorials and my releases on as Waxadisc is an umbrella for various music projects all under one roof. I would not have any personal videos on there that don't relate to my music. So keep the channel focused on the business and not the personal videos.





4. Make sure that you have at least three releases ready to go and that they are mastered with catalogue numbers for each release. This way the distribution will see that you mean business and they will take your application seriously.









2. Write your label mission & create a logo



Start out with the notion that your label is going to be a side project. A project you can have without any pressure or financial obligations. It is after all a labour of love and should be treated that way. Remember that the digital label age we now live in has given us the chance to develop way more than a physical format label ever did in terms of time, where with a traditional label, theartist usually had 3 singles to prove themselves or they were dropped. These days we can give an artists plenty of time.

So with that in mind type up a label mission. What do you want to release? How many tracks per year do you want to put out? How many artists do you want to sign in the long run? Do you want the label to release albums? Do you want to sign actual bands or just DJ Producer types? All of these questions need answering and you need to stick to your policy.

Once you have laid out your label plan, you then need to design a logo that represents your music. If you dont like the idea of graphic design you can surely find a friend who is good at it or does it for a living who is willing to offer you a free design. If not then you can use a company like Fiverr where you can get real graphic designers to make one for a few dollars.







So if it is a Disco House label it needs to have a positive uplifting look and also as I mentioned earlier the name of the label needs to reflect the music in some way. If it is a dark Techno label then you need a more moodier and serious name. So think along the lines of your favourite labels and other brands that you wish to be lined up against in the future as a serious product.



5. Be patient. Make sure that when you apply you sit back and keep promoting your tracks on your social media and also most important start making connections with other like minded artists and labels. Also submit your music to online magazines and bloggers in your field, until the distribution respond with their answer.

3. Get free digital distribution





There are so many songs on Itunes and Spotify these days? but how many of you realise that a lot of people actually pay upfront fees to get their music on those stores.





They offer many other things such as mastering and promotions etc. But the heart of their business is distribution. No this is not a sales pitch for them, but merely a suggestion for you to get your music out there without upfront costs such as cdbaby or reverbnation offer.



Don't ever pay upfront for music to be sold. Also you should upload your music to Bandcamp, who are independent of distribution services and also offer a free no fee service and you can sell and stream on their site too. Check them out here



You can check out the distribution terms at Label-Worx here. LABELWORX

I would never pay to have my music online for streaming or for sale as a download by paying an upfront fee. Thats just ridiculous, when you can do it for a percentage cut instead. I have been using a service for almost ten years now with a company called Label-worx and they have been excellent in their services.They offer many other things such as mastering and promotions etc. But the heart of their business is distribution. No this is not a sales pitch for them, but merely a suggestion for you to get your music out there without upfront costs such as cdbaby or reverbnation offer.Don't ever pay upfront for music to be sold. Also you should upload your music to Bandcamp, who are independent of distribution services and also offer a free no fee service and you can sell and stream on their site too. Check them out here BANDCAMP

So lets now imagine that you have set up your label and you are ready to submit your music and get distributed to all of the major stores. The premise is simple, You now need to apply through the label-worx site to have your music uploaded and distributed across all of the stores that they deal with, and right now it is a long list of stores ranging from Amazon and Deezer right through to Spotify.



They also sell through the specialised stores such as Beat-port and Traxsource. So the potential is huge for your music to be streamed and sold as downloads.





Label-Worx pay every quarter so you get 4 payments per year, and you need to have at least 50 pounds in sales and streams to get a payout otherwise it rolls over till the next quarter. Ok you need to have millions of streams to make a living on these sites, but all it takes is for one song to go viral and you have the chance to be noticed.



You can also have the chance to sell your music as mp3 downloads on Beat-port, which is an added bonus. That way you get the best of both worlds, the streaming and the downloads, and they take a small percentage per stream and per download sale, which varies per store, but it is a much more viable option than paying some company for example £30 a year just to host your music on those sites. Don't ever do that.





4. Upload your songs & get on playlists









If you get onto Label-Worx then once that is set you need to upload your tracks via the FTP client. This is where the distribution company hold your wave files. Once they are uploaded via your own personal FTP address that the distributor gives you, you can then begin to create releases on their platform in your dashboard on the distribution page.





There is usually a wait of around 4 to 5 weeks per single. So you need to think at least one month ahead for your songs to arrive online at Spotify for example. You can keep track of your streams and sales in real time which is updated daily, so that gives you a detailed account of where it is being played and which song is the most popular.





Once your music is live you need to start to find out who the curators and playlist makers are. This can be difficult but getting on a few playlists is a great way to earn revenue without even putting in the hours. I searched for Spotify playlist and Itunes playlist curators by searching on Google and Twitter etc by using the hashtag method #spotifyplaylist or #spotifydiscohouse for example.



This will perhaps show you some influential playlist curators who maybe able to push your music on to millions of listeners. There is nothing wrong with thinking big.





These methods are all trial and error and you do make up your own ways of gaining contacts along the way. But you must try to find out who is the one pulling the strings in your genre.

You can also try and create a playlist your self using other established artists music and putting your own labels song sin there too.



Make sure you select your music at the top of the playlist then add a big name under neath it. This not only looks good but it also gives you the first play which adds to your stream count. you can check out the Waxadisc playlist here to get an idea of how I did it .



You will see that the first and the third track are on my labels and I have mixed them next to Daft Punk and Frankie Knuckles for a nice effect, because lets be honest you want your music next to your idols in some capacity. Why think small? Check out the playlist on the image below.









5. Create a remix competition to find new talent.





So your label has had several releases out under your own name and you now need to branch out and find some other talent that is perhaps trying to break through on to a label. A really good way to get new artists to work with you is to launch a remix competition on Sound cloud or other social media platforms. I launched one a few years ago and it was a massive success.





I had a release that was ready and I simply uploaded a file with all of the stems on and put the original track in there also. The response is great because you get many people sending over their version of your track which is nice to hear and also they are more than willing to try.

















This is a win win situation that gains new followers and more interest in your label as the winning selection of remixes get their track released and this in turn creates the chance for those remix artists to promote their version of the track and your label at the same time. So to find new talent you just simply create a remix competition.





6. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?









That is basically it. These are the simple basic steps to setting up a small independent record label. You can of course get started with these small tips and once you have your label up and running, you can then take things a little further by registering your music with the likes of PRS who collect royalties from air play around the globe.





You can extend your work to pressing vinyl and cassette tapes in the future. Yes Cassette Tapes are still popular and quite credible in certain genres these days. You can also start your own club night and tours etc, once you have a roster of artists or a collection of tracks.





You can also turn your releases into live performances and take it off in a new direction. The possibilities are endless. But just start today, no matter how small the steps are, you will be glad of it this time next year once you have started to make your mark in your selected scene or genre.

















































































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Its 2019 and its time to take control of your music. You know what you want and you just need some guidance in pushing yourself forwards to doing it. You have always dreamt of running your own label, but you believe that its too difficult with lots of hurdles in the way, When actually in reality it is very simple indeed. So please read the information and advice below to see how you can start getting your music out and keep it in your control.