How A Major Label (Still) Makes A Record A Hit [CHART]
Last week Universal Republic Records sent out an email titled “THE ANATOMY OF A HIT RECORD!”. It's really promotional piece for The Band Perry, but its also a reminder of how – at least for this major label – how little has changed. The chart is almost all about radio, award show and an upcoming tour. Social media and bloggers, for example, aren't even mentioned.
“THE ANATOMY OF A HIT RECORD!” CHART
Click On Image To Enlarge
Share on:
I don’t work at Universal, but it really is amazing how good Universal Republic is.
This band has sold 600k albums.
Perhaps this post should have been titled:
“How A Major Label (Still) Uses WordArt”
😉
This is a country band on a country label. Country careers are still very much driven by radio. It’s no secret.
From the looks of it, this image was created to be seen by people in the radio business. I cannot say whether or not radio programmers care about social media stats, but I don’t think social media stats are typically seen on advertisements aimed at radio programmers.
There is such a disconnect between music journalists and the actual music biz.
Good to see artists selling and how they are getting there.
Social networking is the backbone of indie artist hustle. Who needs a major label if I can sell my own downloads?
The dirty little secret is, however, that today’s hit records sell FAR less than they used to. Most people don’t even know what today’s “hits” are. That certainly was not the case 30 to 40 years ago.
The old music industry is nothing but a sham. Major labels know that you will forever chase the wishful dream of getting signed and making millions.
But the truth is that major labels will NEVER sign you. And even if they did, you would NEVER make a single penny of money from them. lol.
Who was the audience for the email? I hate to paint with a broad stroke about Nashville, but if I had a $10 bill for every NashVegas egoist that approached me blathering on and on about how important or significant they were – I could pay cash for a new car. I’ve never seen more pissing matches about who in the room was more significant than around a pile of Nashvillians…
More times than not they’ve only demonstrated their irrelevance, taking credit for luck and then screwing the pooch their next 5 endeavors. Country and CCM circles in particular are full of these blowhards. The funny thing is watching how ignorant and aspiring artists gravitate to these big mouths and then turn cynical and bitter when nothing transpires. The caption at the bottom of the graphic should be “We Break New Artists In Two, We Get Lucky Every 5 Years.”
This looks to be yet another entry in the “I’M SOOO IMPORTANT, U CAN KISS MY A$$” chronicles.
All that being said, in 15 years of trying to avoid NashVegas and still getting tangled up every other year, I’ve met literally THREE people who weren’t so self-absorbed that they actually get things done. One engineer, one musician/producer, one attorney. They rock and get things done and would rather talk to you about fishing, their kids, or how some show they’re not involved with rocked their world than their accolades.
This is no different from the 80’s with bands like Bros (then on CBS). This is a packaged ‘pop’ band but there are plenty of credible artists still working with the majors. If you don’t believe me contact AnR Worldwide for confirmation. Hey Mr Houghton, what about a small tribute to Amy Winehouse!!! Digital Music News had the decency to post over the weekend so why not you? She contibuted more than you’ll ever do.
Social networking is dead. That’s like saying Myspace matters, or Twitter.
Get wit da program, dudes.
“Internet is overrated.” John Mayer
+1
Hahahaha, yeah right. John Mayer is a fool and a womanizer. Wasn’t he chasing Taylor Swift recently?
He got into trouble on Twitter because he can’t keep it inside his pants. That’s not exactly someone you want to take social networking advice from.
the word is rigged. make your music. live and die for it. and be happy with it.
The industry has been infiltrated long ago by people who have no understanding of the history of the music business and no interest in the preservation of it. Wall Street is in control and it has been down hill for entertainment every since… Along with many other industries that you see being crashed and stolen from by the top one percent of our countries wealthy unethical business men.
Specifically Clear Channel and Murdock with his lies on Television and brain dead programming.
I like reading the feedback…Everyone has great things to say on both sides of the fence. I only wished the majors spent time building relationships with some of the technology compaanies and artist out there. Regardless of genre there are some groups/individuals doing some great things as indie artist. Conversely, there are new companies out there that are building things that will help make music more portable and interactive..Great feedback, good article.
Great post…and better feedback. I enjoyed the feedback from both sides of the fence. The business of music is complicated whether you are indie or major. The way music is marketed now is crazy to me..There are so many opportunities not being taken advantage of by the majors that sometimes I wonder just how smart some of these individuals really are ? To the artist it’s about being heard, the label is about being paid…There are some labels that are about breaking new talent but I find most mainstream music is copycat. Radio does not help the situation by playing the same things over and over but…This is what we have now. SAD
If you are an artist… as in you are in it for the art, you’ll live a happy life each time someone smiles at your lyrics or dances to one of your songs, or you hear it even on internet radio, but feel OK each time you can step back and appreciate what you’ve created.
If you are looking to hit it big, quick.. you might as well be a professional lotto player that only plays quick picks..
This graphic is all about how many major market Program Directors, ACM, CMA and Grammy dignitaries they have eating out of their hands.
Almost everyone I know that has had a record deal will tell you the time from signing the deal until the pimp record label get’s their investment back, will almost certainly be the poorest time of anyone’s life.
All that promotion, awards appearances, etc.. in that graphic is UNPAID time working, traveling, etc.