Spring Break
MilkBoy's new 'label' gives musicians career control
Bobby Goodwin
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Amusement
Lokoff: Think about what a record label does. They sign a band because they have the money to do it. In exchange they're saying, 'We'll sign you, but we're gonna take a large percentage of what you're worth in exchange for promoting your product.' Labels used to have an advantage because of all their contacts and their connections with record stores. Now, with stores like iTunes and CD Baby, independent musicians can distribute their music without the label. When I was a musician playing in (New York) I didn't have that option. The Unlabel can use these Internet tools to development a band's awareness online. As a band's Web site traffic increases, hopefully fans will buy products there so all the money goes to the band directly.
Amusement: The members of The Unlabel's biggest band, Sleeping Naked, go to two different schools (UCLA and Vanderbilt). They don't have time to tour. What "out-of-the-box solutions" did you provide the band so they could get their name out there? It sounds like a Postal Service style
recording process.
Laskas: Working with them was a unique opportunity because we didn't have a take in the recording process. They just handed us a CD with 12 really good songs already produced. What we did was make their weakness (not being able to perform a lot) their strength by garnering them a really big Internet fan base. It's something we call the social network collective (about 12 networks). We take an active role in recruiting new fans … We didn't want their Web site just for band news. We wanted to make it more of a community … It's about using music to promote a destination. We're creating a brand for the band. We know exactly where people want them to be. If there's 300 fans in New York, we're gonna send them to New York to do some shows.
Lokoff: Our job at The Unlabel was to figure out ways to drive traffic to their Web site … In their music video we placed clues and pieces of lyrics throughout so that if fans can identity these they win free CDs, T-shirts and even an iPod touch.
Amusement: The members of The Unlabel's biggest band, Sleeping Naked, go to two different schools (UCLA and Vanderbilt). They don't have time to tour. What "out-of-the-box solutions" did you provide the band so they could get their name out there? It sounds like a Postal Service style
recording process.
Laskas: Working with them was a unique opportunity because we didn't have a take in the recording process. They just handed us a CD with 12 really good songs already produced. What we did was make their weakness (not being able to perform a lot) their strength by garnering them a really big Internet fan base. It's something we call the social network collective (about 12 networks). We take an active role in recruiting new fans … We didn't want their Web site just for band news. We wanted to make it more of a community … It's about using music to promote a destination. We're creating a brand for the band. We know exactly where people want them to be. If there's 300 fans in New York, we're gonna send them to New York to do some shows.
Lokoff: Our job at The Unlabel was to figure out ways to drive traffic to their Web site … In their music video we placed clues and pieces of lyrics throughout so that if fans can identity these they win free CDs, T-shirts and even an iPod touch.
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