Reversing roles in recording
The evolution of technology has changed how music is produced, removing the need to have a contract with a record label to do it. With more musicians choosing to be independent, are big recording companies becoming obsolete?
‘They do not care nothing about me. All they want is my voice,” says Viola Davis, playing Ma Rainey, an American blues singer, in a scene from the drama Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In the movie, Ma Rainey is referring to her manager and the record label.
With a look of disgust smeared across her face, she continues, “But they can’t do nothing else ’cause they ain’t got what they wanted yet.
“As soon as they get my voice down on one them recording machines, then it’s just like I’d be some whore and they roll over and put their pants on. They ain’t got no use for me then.”
The movie is a fictional account of a recording session that took place on a hot summer’s day in Chicago on 2 July 1927, at Paramount’s recording studios. It encapsulates Ma Rainey’s talent as a blues singer, but more importantly, her ability to understand that her record company is using her.
Unfortunately, this type of behaviour is ubiquitous in the music recording business. Throughout its history, artists have had to wrestle with situations like this, as record labels exploit them for their own profit — sometimes leaving musicians penniless.
This can be because aspiring musicians sign deals where they are swindled out of their profits. It happens when they sign contracts that give away their masters — the original sound recording or publishing rights — while they make money from performances from which, in some instances, the recording companies will also take a portion.
And whoever owns the music can make a lifetime of fortunes.
That is why, last year, when R&B icon Anita Baker fought to acquire the masters to her first five albums from Elektra Records, she went as far as asking her followers to not stream her music until the matter had been resolved. In 2019, veteran rapper Proverb announced that he had taken ownership of the masters to his debut album The Book of Proverb.
However, over time, artists have become enlightened about how the music business works. Some make sure they sign deals that favour them while others choose not to sign at all.
Being a recording artist, without a record deal, has been made possible by the advancement of technology — which has changed barriers to entry. Now, anyone can record music in the comfort of their own home, or pay an independent studio for a recording session, with no need for a contract. In this way they avoid the onerous process of negotiating a deal that is lucrative for the music executives and the artist.
The shift can be seen in the mushrooming of record labels in South Africa. According to the Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA), there are 37 505 recording companies registered with them and only three are big ones.
However, there is a catch. As technology has evolved, streaming has become the main way music is consumed. Artists and record labels have to work a lot harder to sell digital
music in order to get anywhere near the same profits they had before streaming became a thing, explains Rob Cowling, general manager at Gallo Music Group.
While musicians everywhere can struggle to sell their digital music, local artists also have to deal with the dominance of international music. RISA’S custom report for 2021 shows South African music companies made R95.8-million last year, after the industry shrank by 4.6% in 2020, while the international companies made R393.2-million, growing by 4.7%.
Out of that, local digital sales made R93-million while the international market stood at R389.3-million.
But what does the evolution of streaming mean for big record labels, as musicians become the purveyors of their own music?
This change is happening across all genres, but jazz, especially in South Africa, is interesting. This is because contemporary jazz is very niche — and it only gets airplay on radio at certain times.
Cowling explains: “I guess with jazz it’s a difficult genre, as it’s not commercial or largely popular at the moment. It’s hard for contemporary jazz to compete with rap, hip-hop and amapiano in terms of popularity and streaming numbers.
“It had its resurgence in the 1990s and early 2000s but then went into decline as the industry found other genres and the youth culture embraced new trends.”
He says the independent route is often a good alternative as musicians can focus on their core fan base, and have cost-effective solutions for distribution, without having to give up large shares of income in return for marketing and promotion.
Jazz musician Sibusiso “Mash” Mashiloane, who has produced six albums independently since 2016, explains that recording in this way is very expensive and it is because of this that record labels will still be around for some time to come.
However, he confesses he has never gone out of his way to seek out a record deal.
“I know that, for me as an independent artist, I have the freedom to record whatever I want to record. I have the freedom to conceptualise the music,” he says.
But when he is making his own music, money is not the motivator. He says in the jazz space, the motive is less about the material benefits and more about the healing and the bigger benefits, “which are of the soul”.
Pianist, composer and music producer Bokani Dyer says he has been offered deals but has not signed any because he has not received one that would create value for him and for the record label.
Being an independent artist is all about people, because often, unlike with music companies, the artist will not have friends in high places.
Dyer says a trend in the digital streaming world nowadays is the playlist. Many the recording companies contact the people who compile Spotify’s playlists, for example, to get them to add a song they want to promote. Listeners tend to gravitate towards these playlists because they do not know what to listen to all the time, and in this way they discover the song, which will grow its streaming numbers.
He says, at the end of the day, it’s all about accessing people. So, if you’re independent, then you know you have to rely more on your own following and how to get listeners to continue streaming your music.
Musicians need to be active on social media to engage audiences and to promote their projects, Dyer says.
Although he is not signed, he has entered into deals for the physical and digital distribution of his music.
Andrew Mitchley, chief operations officer at David Gresham Records, says contemporary jazz artists derive most of their income from live performances and don’t necessarily rely on record labels or distributors.
Independent distribution takes care of the availability of records and artists can hire specialist promotion teams that focus on their genre.
Mitchley says big record labels are thriving now more than ever as they can offer a holistic service.
“With the constant innovation in the industry, big record companies are in prime position to deliver greater results from an array of opportunities that never existed before, from social media to global tours, and all the good stuff in between,” he says.
Jazz singer Titi Lupizo released an album independently in 2019 and decided to use a distribution company to circulate it. As a result, she owns her masters and her intellectual property.
Lupizo says by signing a deal, the record label manages the musician and, therefore, they get to take a piece of the pie whenever the musician gets the opportunity to make money. She says it depends on the deal signed, but the bottom line is that they will take something.
She emphasises the live performance industry in South Africa is growing and that’s where they make money. She says that Covid-19 halted this, but she is now back to performing songs to her album, with her upcoming show, titled The Silent Concert, taking place on 2 September 2022 at Leano Restaurant.
Although being an independent artist is an expensive exercise, it is definitely worth it because, “it’s your property, it’s an investment — basically, it’s like buying property”.
Cowling is confident that, in the future, record labels will still exist, albeit in a different form.
“The independent sector is stronger than ever globally and has investors in many cases that help them to scale up and compete with the majors,” he says.
Echoing Mitchley, he adds that big record labels have the ability to invest more than most through their international content, where artists are signed by a global affiliate and the rights passed onto the local labels in their respective territories across the globe.
“The industry is complicated, with multiple rights over multiple creators and multiple value chains, where revenues flow in, and these will still need to be administered or collected or registered with various agencies or collection societies.”
Whoever owns the music can make a lifetime of fortunes