While browsing on the Record Union A&R forum, as we often do, we came across and interesting post by Dr.Sounds called “Music Wining”. Dr.Sounds is an A&R but also an artist who creates some rather avant garde minimalist new age instrumental music - great for relaxation and quite the mind trip. However, he raised in this post an interesting point about creativity and the art of composition and we would like to share it here.

He said, using an apt metaphor, that musical projects, like wine, can mature with age. What he means by this is that when you work with a musical project too long and you might find yourself “distracted” by your own composition. He means that if you grow tired of a composition and after a time think its hopeless - don’t through it away. Dr.Sounds himself often returns to a project after some time, and with his initial misgivings cast aside he approaches it with fresh enthusiasm.

There is actually a type of syndrome, he points out. You cannot work on a song for an unlimited time, because before too long your mind learns the logic of the song and refuses to let you to “hear” it again. If you take a break for a while and let the brain forget this logic, you can hear the song again and approach it afresh.

One can even take the metaphor further. Not all wine actually matures well, some do better than others - but you wont know until you have let it stand a while and then opened a new bottle from the cask.

To summarise: never throw away something you have done, because when you forget the learned logic of a song, you can rediscover your own work anew.

The Basepoint Media digital platform provides content to a large range of stores and services located in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and a number of other European countries. Their platform comprises a flexible solution which allows any label, retailer, brand or service to offer digital music and film purchases from their website. Record Union are pleased to have just finalised a deal which will enables us to provide music to Basepoint and all their affiliates. Click here to see a list of Basepoint Media´s existing clients. Record Union are very pleased to add yet another great partner to the list of services we deliver music to.

We will send out entire catalog to Basepoint Media next week. If you would for some reason not like your music featured in their catalog, please contact content(at)recordunion.com before Sunday 7th March, 16:00.

Getting signed to a serious record label is the aim of many musicians, and for good reason. Labels can offer unparalleled support, resources and experience in producing and releasing music. Many also have established media contacts and have a deal of promotional clout which can help you increase your listener base and music sales. They will also take care of many of the time consuming day to day management of you or your band, and let you get on with what you do best - creating music.

Now, Record Labels don´t do all of this just for the fun of it. Rather, they do it as an investment. Record Labels are a business, and just like all businesses they make risk calculations. To make yourself attractive to Record Labels they must see you are an attractive investment; that once they invest money in you they will at least get it back.

It is undeniable that the onset of the digital music revolution has created amazing new possibilities for independents, both when it comes to distribution and promotion. However, it is also an environment which has made it harder for many Record Labels to sell music. The traditional marketing machinery has lost traction, and the diffuse Internet music environment has made the access and consumption of music far more diversified. Even with money to throw around, the chance and scale of success has become smaller. Once the traditional music industry adapts, or we see the rise of more influential and innovative digilabels, they will have a hard time making the same kind of money as they once did.

In this climate of uncertainty, risk calculations become all the more prevalent. So, to get signed you must make yourself as attractive as possible. Raw talent won´t hack it anymore, not by itself. They don’t have the time, resources or money to nurture you from infancy. If you are looking to get signed, the Internet is a great place to develop your art and show the labels you got what they want.

A decent track record of digital sales is a strong plus factor, and nothing illustrates an active and engaged fan base like having thousands of plays on streaming services. Focusing on improving the scale and force of your live performances, selling merchandise and playing festivals are also plus factors when looking to gain label interest. The bottom line is that a Record Label is a business. A good business makes money. In an uncertain environment risk becomes more prevalent. So if you want a Record Deal, a wise thing would be touse the great possibilities in the online environment to make yourself into an irresistible investment.

Yes, it can’t be said enough. Playing live is promotion, teambuilding and a whole lot of fun for bands. It’s very important, both for enterainment and as an expression of culture. For us at Record Union, except distributing music and doing our best to support up and coming artists and bands, we love going to see live music (in my case also play). Today something cool happened. As we were discussing how and where to spend the evening two alternatives emerged and we realised that the two options both had distributed via Record Union. Kilroy and Lissi Dancfloor Disaster. Our heart just melted a little. There are probably a lot more bands that use our service playing tonight all over the world. The Record Union movement is growing. Our thoughts this Friday goes out to everyone who mail, call and book their own gigs. To those who rent a van and go on tour with the hopes of getting home without having lost ALL of their savings. They are all our friends.

And yes, I know, we may only be a distribution company, but the most of you who distribute though us are up and coming. Hungry. That’s good. Record Union may well be the springboard you need. More about that some other time.

Is it friday? Yes. Let the music play.

//P.

Name optimization has become more and more important in this digital age. Back in the days when the man in the record shop was responsible for finding you music, the phrase ”Err…It’s some kind of punkrock, eh, Tars… something” could well be enough for him to know what you where talking about. In the digital age ”Tars… something” will lead you nowhere. Since you don’t have the full and accurate name, no search engine can understand what the man in the record shop knows. For this reason, making your band/artist name and music easy to search for is key to a successful presence on the Internet.

A good first step is to make sure that the titles of your tracks and albums are easy to remember. Ideally, this should also be the same for your band or artist name  (so if you are starting a new band then this is something to think about). It is difficult to know for sure what will stick in the mind of a listener, it’s individual, after all. Name a band “Torsten” and I will remember it because of my late grandfather. Name the band “The Save” and I will forget it. I always forget to save. The key is to be creative and come up with something everyone will remember - something which sticks out.

Another thing you should think about is this how common the names you are using are. In search engines “Torsten” is pretty uncommon and might be a word which makes you come out near the top of the search results . “The Save”, on the other hand, may be bad as since it’s a name at least 36 artist use in combination with something else. Then there is the aspect of radio- or random party play. If you have a rather bizarre chorus line where the lyrics goes ”I love dogs while they sleep” or “Purple elephants are better than pink ones” over and over again then its silly to name the song something else. I am sure we have all heard a song somewhere which we really like but all we can remember is the chorus line - wouldn’t it be a shame if someone searched for this chorus line and then didn’t find it?

One can also be a little militant in how one names songs and albums, and play search engines at their own game. Naming your song “Madonna slept with U2 and Coldplay” or something like this will guarantee that you get lots of search hits from people searching for Madonna, U2 and Coldplay. Its a little cheeky, but hey, if people check out your music, its worth it, no?

If you name your song ”Michael Jackson sleeps With Madonna” you may hit the Jackpot.

- P.

Dear artists, we are happy to inform you that the server issues we were experiencing yesterday afternoon and this morning have now been resolved and the website is running normally again. However, the releases published during this time were affected and we can unfortunately not distribute them as they are. For this reason, we have removed them.

Consequently, we regret to say that those of you who published releases during this time will have to publish them again. Fear not, the UPC´s that you pruchased are still valid, and can be found on the “create an album” page, as can the audio files you uploaded and edited. All which is required is that you create a new album and publish it on the website.

This is the first time we have experienced a problem of this nature, and we will do our utmost to prevent it happening in the future. As said, the website is now running as usual, so there should no longer be any problem distributing your music.

If you have questions concerning your release, please get in touch with: content(at)recordunion.com and our content team would be happy to answer them.

Performing live is one of the great joys of being a musician. However, it is important to think of a gig not just as a way of entertaining an audience for a little while and having fun, but as an opportunity to market yourself and reach out to new fans. Handing out a simple flyer is one important step for getting the most out of your live performances.

The Point
Promotion is all about developing relationships with listeners. During and after a successful live performance you are in a good position to move from a superficial and temporary relationship with potential fans, to a deeper long term one. This is up to you. Providing they can even remember your name, only a small percentage of the audience will take it upon themselves to find you online and listen more to your music. Make it easy for them. Hand out flyers.

What to communicate
A flyer can contain a single piece of information, or lots of information. It can be elaborately designed, or just a simple piece of paper with a bit of text on it. The key is that it gives the recipient more info about you and a way to access your music. Depending on your existing marketing strategy, here are a few things you might consider putting on your flyer:

•    Online locations: Your link to MySpace, Facebook, Imeem etc. or just your website
•    Where to access your music: Communicating that your music is available for free streaming on services such as Spotify or Deezer is a great way to increase the appreciation for your music. Before people buy your music, its best they can listen to it over and over and make it part of their music repertoire. Streaming services have the added bonus if sharability and peer recommendation.
•    Mailing list: “Keep updated! Sign up to our mailing list and receive a free track” is a good way to incentivize people to sign up to your mailing list. Once on your list, they are in the loop and you can further develop your relationship with them.

Tips

•    Maximize the effect of your flyers by thinking about when you hand them out. One method is to announce before the last song that flyers are being handed out, and getting some friends to hand them out in the crowd.
•    Alternatively, do it yourself. Straight after a gig, move around the crowd and hand out the flyers. This gives you the opportunity to converse with listeners, receive compliments and answer questions.
•    Be creative on what you put on your flyer. Hosting a merch give away or another kind of competition? Advertise in on your flyers and you may find more participants.

Record Union are excited to announce that another new partner has been added to our ever growing distribution portal, it´s called Thumbplay!

Thumbplay are a major player on the US market and the fastest-growing provider of mobile content in the US. They feature licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, as well as several independent labels. For those who would like to gain entry into the mobile market in the US, this is a perfect digital service provider. For you who are already focused on the US market, this provides an excellent opportunity to make your music mobile and for your fans purchase your music via their phone.

Record Union will send our entire catalog to Thumbplay later this week. If any of you would not like to have your music delivered to this excellent obile provider, please email content@recordunion.com before Sunday 20th December, 16:00 CET.

Dear friends. This is just a quick post to inform you that we are currently performing important updates on some areas of our website, and you may experience problems while using the service. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to have this completed soon.

Update: We have now completed the website maintenence and the website should now be running as smoothly as ever.