The real reason Koopa is important
In order to be eligible for the charts, you have to be released by a record label. And yet, here’s Koopa — an unsigned band in the top 40 charts. How can these things both be true?
You may recall a story in the press not so long ago about an Essex band called Koopa, who had become the first ‘unsigned’ band to enter the top 40 charts in the UK. It was national news and as the BBC reported, “definitely one in the eye for the industry, but as Joe Murphy from the band points out - without any help, it was tough going.”
Some of that ‘without any help’ came from just down the road from me: Edgbaston brothers Lee and Matt Parsons run an online PR and distribution company called Ditto Music. In the Birmingham Post, Lee explained
“To get into the charts they had to launch on official websites – where the number of downloads are counted. But these don’t allow music from unsigned bands. So we let Koopa use our label to launch their single and they made it to no 31.”
And that’s where I became confused.
How could Koopa be an “unsigned band” that has a record in the charts, when that song was released on what seems in every respect to be a record label?
It started bugging me. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I thought of deals that ‘unsigned bands’ were doing all over the internet with organisations that would promote and distribute their music. MySpace, for instance. Or Garageband. How is that NOT a record label?
I decided to ask Lee himself.
Hi,
Obviously, I’m hearing a lot about you guys these days, particularly the way in which you helped get ‘unsigned act’ Koopa into the charts.
It’s great PR for what you do, and you should be congratulated accordingly. But perhaps you can help me with one thing that’s bothering me…
[From the Ditto website:] “…we (uniquely) release unsigned artists’ material under our own labels and distirbute them through our networks.”
What makes you think you’re not a record label?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Dubber
Hi Andrew
We are a registered record label. We operate as an umbrella company for artists without labels by letting them release on one of our many registered labels.
Obviously there are a great deal of differences between us and a normal “record label.” We provide many services including PR, manufacturing etc.
So we would clearly not want to limit ourselves to being called a “record label”
Best
Lee
Lee,
Thanks for that.
You’re right — and I do get the difference. My point is about the hype about Koopa being an “unsigned act in the charts”, which is new, interesting and important — but not at all about them being unsigned.
Obviously, they are signed. To a company that releases, promotes and distributes music. Not JUST a record label — but a record label all the same.
In other words, if an unsigned band makes an agreement with your company and you use your professional services to promote and distribute their music, then they stop being an unsigned band. Surely.
You may not think of what you do in terms of a traditional A&R model of record labels, but if your services include marketing, PR, manufacturing, aggregation, and online distribution, then you do pretty much exactly what a record company does these days.
To put it another way, you’re helping me make a point with my students about how the nature of the industry has changed. The word ‘unsigned’ is now essentially meaningless (and still vaguely derogatory). ‘Independent artist’ would be my pick for a replacement term.
Dubber
The point in our service is that sites like iTunes etc will not take content from unsigned artists.
Koopa paid for us to distribute their record under one of our labels. That was the only way they could qualify for the charts.
They still to this date have no record deal and are still by their own definition an unsigned artist.
There is still obviously a vast difference between an artist signing up with us and having a contract with someone like Sony.
Lee
Lee,
OK - you’ve found the bit I don’t get. Let me paraphrase you.
1) iTunes won’t take unsigned bands.
2) Koopa wanted to get on iTunes
3) We signed Koopa to our record label to get around point 1
4) iTunes accepted Koopa’s music
but then you say:
5) Koopa don’t have a record label and remain unsigned.
I’m sorry, but what? There are more than 4 record labels (Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal and Warners). You run one yourself.
When they say they are “unsigned”, do you mean they consider themselves unsigned until they have a deal with a major? Because you might want to let them know about the other 3,000-odd labels in the UK, and the fact they already have a deal with one of them.
Do you see what I’m getting at?
Koopa has a record label. Therefore they’re not an unsigned band, despite what their own definition might say. You might also want to let them know how much better off they are without the major label deal.
To clarify:
Being a ‘label’ is really a technicality that Catco need to register a song for release. It has to be attached to a PPL label member for the sake of airplay royalties.
You can’t register a song without using Catco and you can’t get a Catco login and the necessary codes to use without being a PPL label member.
It does seem that there’s an oxymoron in saying the ‘first unsigned band in the charts’ seeing as technically you have to be released through a label to chart.
In fact, Koopa have a non-exclusive distribution agreement with us, we do not hold any rights to their songs. They did not ‘sign’ over the rights to their songs in return for releasing and commercial vantage.
We do not even have a contract with the group so the point that they are “signed to us” is irrelevant.
Lee
Lee,
Thanks — I see what you’re getting at now: It’s about who owns the rights.
This important fact wasn’t entirely clear until just now. My apologies for persisting with this, but I think we’ve just revealed something crucial. The message of the Koopa success story is NOT that you can be an unsigned band and get into the charts. It’s that you can have commercial — even chart — success and still own all of the rights to your recordings.
You were, in every respect, acting as their record label. But while it might seem mundane and just part of everyday activity for you, you were doing it in a genuinely new way, and one that has important repercussions for the music business, far beyond that which was reported in the mainstream press.
That’s the important moral here and the lightswitch that needs to go on for all of the other ‘unsigned’ bands looking for the opportunity to sign away control over their livelihoods.
Record labels are still important and perform crucial manufacturing, distribution and marketing roles — but that need not necessarily come at the cost of outright ownership of intellectual property, especially in the new media environment.
Cheers,
Dubber
9 Comments, Comment or Ping
John B
Dubber
I’ve worked with the same sort of model in the airline industry.
You’ve set up an airline with an aircraft and chief pilot and AOC and everything, but you can’t afford the costs and complexity of getting your product displayed on the CRS like Amadeus/Sabre/Galileo - the outfits that provide the screens that travel agents look at and people like us look at online.
So you look around for someone to sign up with, so that you can get visibility and you find outfits like Hahn Air which has a couple of aircraft and operates scheduled services at stuff, but whose REAL business model is providing services (distribution, eticketing, schedule management) to startups that can’t cost-effectively deliver themselves.
So you look like a real airline/signed band and get on the screens/charts with BA & Air France/Oasis & the Stones and people can book you/ buy you.
So Ditto is a real airline/label and it does operate flights/release records. It also lets other people use services that only an airline/ record company can provide and charges them money for it.
And everybody lived happily ever after….
Feb 28th, 2007
OrangeJon
Hmm, perhaps calling them “independent” would be better than “unsigned”?
Feb 28th, 2007
Pete Ashton
Very interesting stuff and puts a whole new spin on the notion of signing to a label. Maybe “non-signed” would be better? A “rights-owning band”?
Feb 28th, 2007
Jessie
“Independent” sounds good to me.
Mar 1st, 2007
bse
I don’t see what’s new here.
There has allways been the distinction between bands signed to contracts and those who release records through labels via manufacturing and distribution deals.
The music industry uses the word “signed” to mean “under contract”. A typical contract will say the artist cannot record for other labels, must record a certain number of records if the label wants and will get a certain budget for their first record.
A large percentage of jobbing bands and musicians who release records are not signed to contracts but rather make deals with labels to release records on an individual basis. They aren’t tied into working for that label in the future and generally they retain the rights to their masters and publishing (something which is often not the case with contracts).
Only in the mainstream media does the concept of Signed vs Un-signed make much sense. I can’t actually believe that Koopa were the first band to have a top 40 hit without having signed some sort of exclusive contract but it is possible. It is after all very hard to get the concentrated number of sales needed in one week to make the charts without some decent promotion and distribution and those thing normally come to bands at the price of a contract.
The contracts with labels exist (in ideal form) to ensure the label recoups their innitial investment (in recording, manufacturing and promoting) when/if the artist gets big. If the artist could just leave the label for another label offering them better money then the labels doing the innitial investments in bands would all run at a loss.
The story with Koopa should have been “Band uses internet promotion to get enough sales in one week to make charts despite not having the greater promotion that comes from signing an ongoing contract with a label”. Not so catchy but a bit more true.
Mar 2nd, 2007
Unsigned 2 Signed Promotions
This reply is in response to the article by Dubber on February 27, 2007 in promotion and copyright in New Music Strategies “Digital and online strategies for independent music business”, on the topic, “The real reason Koopa is important.”
The first line reads, “In order to be eligible for the charts, you have to be released by a record label.
This may well be the case in some instances, depending on the chart(s). Which there are many. If you are referring to a British chart, this is not our expertese, however, you did mention iTunes and you also mentioned MySpace, as well as Garageband and we are familiar with these companies fairly well.
Regarding iTUNES, we have 2 members that are Unsigned and have CD’s on iTUNES currently. The artists are, Exit the Ordinary (Detroit, MI), the Grand Prize Winner of the US2S 1st Annual Unsigned Bravo! Awards released in February 2007 AND Schaeffer (Detroit, MI), they were chosen by our editors in the top 10 of the US2S 1st Annual Unsigned Bravo! Awards.
If you or anyone reading this reply would like more information on how Exit the Ordinary and/or Schaeffer accomplished getting their CD on iTunes while still being UNSIGNED, stop by the Unsigned 2 Signed Promotions website on MySpace and view their profiles from our friend/member area.
Hint: There maybe more than one factor at work here. For instance, both Exit the Ordinary and Schaeffer are from Detroit, MI (which is a major hub for music). They both have the same producer, Stephen Leiweke, who happens to be our friend/member as well. (You’ll have to dig a little to find him in our friends/members list but it is well worth the time and effort.
Did we mention, both have excellent material (songs). In fact, Exit the Ordinary either have or have had songs on MTV in the past year, as well as the title track to their Ep “The Place You Are” (Independently Released without a label) on the sequel to the “Butterfly Effect” that catapulted the career of Ashton Kutcher from That 70’s show fame passed those “other” movies he had done and legitimized his talent as a leading actor, instead of just the “funny guy” that made many people laugh.
The Butterfly Effect 2 was released straight to video/DVD, etc…check it out! Also, Schaeffer, also self-released their CD: “No Ordinary People” to sites like http://www.AlternativeAddiction.com and went straight to #1 with their song “Stay”, back in March of 2006. In addition, Schaeffer won a prestigious sponsorship from a top apparel company. And both bands have many other successes along the way…especially the not giving up kind and the being persistent and good with PR (promotion), especially to fans. In fact, when it comes to doing shows, neither band does very many, but when they do them, they make them count.
For example, in 2005, Exit the Ordinary applied for Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois and were voted into the top 16 bands in the world attempting to play the New Band Showcase OR be the #1 voted band to play the Mainstage. And, as of 2007, they are coming back to Cornerstone Festival New Band Showcase June 30, 2007 at 3pm!
Hopefully you are putting the puzzle together a little bit along with US2S. One thing is for certain, noone gets anywhere alone. The ones who do “SIGN” (the official way or the non-exclusive way) usually have made many good decisions along the way, including having a good professional work ethic. Schaeffer for example has made their “hobby” a business! Utilizing a unique feature that stands out with Schaeffer (3 of the members are brothers, Bryon (Bass), Nolan (Guitar) and Dan (Drums). The business side of things is called Rossi Music Group, LLC or LLP.
Oh, did I mention both Exit the Ordinary and Schaeffer not only sell their CD very reasonably priced…$10 bucks or less? Both bands have worked with US2S in the early days of 2003 when we put together shows locally, hosted and promoted them ourselves and quite literally had little or no budget to work with, yet they saw opportunity to play and expand their fan-base and pick up show contacts along the way and more. In otherwords, they were flexible, honest, hard-working, motivated, friendly, likeable, professional, excellent songwriters, performers, promoters and they have only continued to improve on all the above.
Although there may be certain elements of the article that are indeed true and accurate, to encourage others is what Unsigned 2 Signed Promotions is all about and we would not being doing a good job if we did not encourage you and your readers to “seek out the possibilites” and not accept defeat at any level. The only way to guarantee defeat is to say it cannot be done or give ourselves the opportunity to find reasons why we cannot do something.
We realize noone attempts to go out of there way to do the negative, but often times all of us are tempted to take that bait and in the process we get caught up in it and eventually we land in the boat we never intended to be in. So, we suggest using what you have learned as that, a learning experience and move “forward”. Thomas Edison, the great inventor missed it over 2000 times before getting the invention of the filiment to the lightbulb just right. He never consider those 2000 times to be “failure”, in fact, Edison consider them to be essentially discoveries of “what did not work”.
This positive outlook kept Thomas Edison focused on what was to be learned from everything and every situation or challenge in life.
All of us at Unsigned 2 Signed Promotions thank all of you for an excellent site and opportunity for discussion on these important subjects relating to the Independent Artist, however, like Edison, one or even 2000 Unsigned or Indie artists turned down by iTunes or otherwise to be on any chart is not necessarily failure as much as the opportunity that opened up a discussion to challenge thinking to find a way to make these unified goals a reality for many and not just a few. So Bravo! for your article and we hope this reply gives wings once again to many of your readers hopes and dreams, even in the midst of the many…”No’s” they may hear along the way.
Does anyone remember the Beatles? Turned down by more Labels than probably anyone. Persistence my friends, persistence. When you get yourself professionally ready, you can be sure that Labels will come calling and often times they will bid against one another to have you on their label, Indie or Major. Be encouraged friends.
Feel free to stop by and give us your feedback on this reply or let us know you would like more information on how Unsigned 2 Signed Promotions can help you hit a “PR Bullseye” ™
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Apr 2nd, 2007
Herdian Mohammad (Herdi)
In my opinion, being “Independent” is more on point.
Jun 26th, 2007
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