I have to bring up one point with Andrew, I do not really agree with your argument about Koopa being an unsigned band when they first got into the charts. I am aware of how the ditto model works as I have worked with them myself before.

In my eyes the very definition of being a ‘Signed band’ with a record deal is when you commit your signature to a legally binding contract with a company, saying they will release your music (or not!) promote etc etc, at a set timeframe for an agreed percentage.

With the ditto model Koopa did not sign any legally binding contract (sign being the key word in a record deal)
They paid Ditto an agreed fee, which in effect meant they hired the services of a record label (ditto) for the release. They remained unsigned and kept 100% of the profit made from the release on sales (assuming itunes takes their cut!)
Ditto had no percentage of the sales, and no contract with the band, they could rerelease the track with another label at any time they wanted.
This in my view means I do think they were the first unsigned act in the top 40.

Great website by the way, found some really interesting subjects.
I teach music industry myself at Btec level so I will be pointing my students this way!
All the best
Scott

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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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.

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….