datamusicata

So someone asked, “how do you start a record label?” That’s an interesting question and not one that I ever asked myself. This would be assuming that you already have a recording facility or access to one and that you have already recorded something that you can now release as a commercial recording.

For me it was fate as I decided to put out a live album of my performance, which is serious music and amusing dialog. Not musical comedy, but music AND comedy.

I took it around to all the labels in the 80’s and everyone said that I couldn’t put out a recording like that. That it had to be either comedy OR music. Knowing my audience (modest by their standards, but far more discerning), I decided to release it anyway.

Because I was living on Beachwood Drive in Los Angeles, I decided to call the label (Label? It was one recording) Beachwood.

Listening to the live recordings, I decided that I really needed some musical back up, but this was after the fact, so I overdubbed bass and keyboard and then gave them ficticious names, as they would have had to be on the stage with me when it was recorded, otherwise it would not be a live album. The bass player still gets call for work, hee hee.

Before I had pressed one copy or even mastered the recording, I went around to everyone who ever said that they believed in me, or loved me, or owed me money and I sold them one of the signed and numbered editions of the recording.

I also made up post cards and sent them to everyone on my opt in mailing list; a list that I had collected performing live around the country. I made them all aware of the recording.

I made only 500 of those signed and numbered ones and managed to sell everyone of them after about six months. This edition was fold out and included photos from my years as a performer, the cartoon strip Cathy that I was in for two days and the lyrics of the songs.

After they were all gone, I made a much simpler version of the packaging and sold that re cording for about ten years.

In the interim, a friend of mine had just started a label and asked me to be a part of it, but I declined. I told him that he could do my distribution and he agreed. So there I was with a recording, a distributor and no budget to do anything about making folks aware of my recordings outside of live performance and my post cards.

I procured a list of magazines and radio stations from a friend of mine (Lou Galliani) who worked at one of the majors and sent them all a copy of the recording for either review or airplay, and I requested that they send me a copy of the review should they dane to do so. This was in an effort to get some attention to the recording that I had made. Music Connection in Los Angeles called it one of the two best recordings of the year, so I did get some attention.

I then decided that I wanted to do a studio album, and was amazed to find that now that there was no A&R guy between me and the release of the recording ,that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do or what I wanted to say in the recording, so it took me about two years to write, record and release my next recording, Simpatico, which to this day I still love like crazy, tho it is different than any recording I ever made afterwards.

I never looked back and have now released about fifty some recordings, 25 of them by me and various other recordings by other friends of mine, as well as a few soundtracks from films.

I suppose to start your own label, you need some talent, some material, a recording of it, lots of cojones and lots of commitment. And an enormous amount of luck.