Do You Really Need a Record
Deal?
By Camille Barbone
Like a sharp stick in your eye, like having an impacted wisdom tooth pulled,
like your drummer quitting right before the tour, like anything else that is a
real pain in the butt….. So do you really need a record deal? The short answer is no.
Another aspect to the question of “needing a deal”, is the strong possibility
that record labels may very well be on a path to obsolescence. But are
they really? The labels are making the lion’s share of income and revenue from streaming. Streaming revenue is fueled by the current consumer
trend to “access” rather than “own” music in a big way. Labels sit at the
head of a rather lucrative dinner table where streaming is the main course.
They are providing content and middling deals that supply music to sites
like Spotify and Pandora. The artists are earning the crumbs that dr