A DO-IT-YOURSELF approach is helping Western Australian musical acts punch above their weight in terms of artistic and commercial success.
It has already proved its worth to the John Butler Trio and The Waifs, who both record under their Jarrah Records label, which they co-own.
Another local band, Jebediah, also went independent with its last album, Braxton Hicks, after a seven-year relationship with Sony.
The DIY approach allows artists to forge ahead with their career without the need for support of a major record company and gives them greater control over their earning power.
It will be a key topic for discussion at the WA Music Industry Association Music Business Conference DIY Global Revolution on February 26.
MGM Records founder Sebastian Chase said technological advances had made it more viable for artists to create their own albums without the help of a record company.
Under a DIY approach the artists would sell those albums at their performances. As interest grows they would turn to a distribution company such as MGM.
MGM distributes for acts such as John Butler Trio, The Waifs, and Joel Turner, the beatboxer featured on the most recent series of Australian Idol.
“We handle the supply chain management, making sure the record stores have enough copies of the albums,” Mr Chase said.
John Butler is an example of the DIY approach.
Unable to get venues to book him some years ago, John Butler busked and sold his first album around Fremantle.
With the proceeds of his busking and tape sales (he sold about 3,500) he was able to record a CD and sell that.
Enter Phil Stevens, the former owner of Fremantle pub Mojos, who now manages John Butler, The Waifs and Little Birdy, and who many in the industry say has played a major role in building the careers of those artists.
Mr Stevens said both John Butler and The Waifs had built strong followings, which had helped them build markets for their albums.
He said he took a different approach with the newer act, Little Birdy, signing a distribution deal with major label EMI because the band’s music was better suited to a company that could get it more radio airplay.
Jebediah manager Heath Bradbury said he had seen the pros and cons of being both independent and signed to a major record label.
He said a major label could throw resources at a project to maintain the momentum behind an act and boost sales.
“However, when you’re independent you don’t need to sell as many records as when you’re signed to a major label,” Mr Bradbury said.
A band with an average deal with a major label is likely to get about $2 to $3 per unit sold. But costs associated with making the CD are taken out of that before the artists gets any money from the release.
With an independent release the artist’s take can be up to $12 from each sale. Once costs such as marketing have been deducted the artist is still at least $3 a sale better off than someone on a major label.
Even going international seems to be easier if the band is independent.
Mr Bradbury said his experience of the major labels showed it was actually harder to get overseas sales.
“Now that we’re independent we’ve been able to set up licensing deals in Brazil and Japan,” he told WA Business News.
