Sample from the Introduction of Tim Sweeney’s Guide To Releasing Independent Records:
Playing The Lottery Everyone knows that if you go down to your local gas station and buy a ticket for the Super Lotto, your odds of matching all six numbers are about one-in-a-gazillion. If you buy ten tickets instead of just one, your odds of winning, while still very small, would at least be a little bit bigger. If you buy 500 tickets, your odds of winning would be bigger still, and if you buy 500,000 tickets, you just might win the thing.
And the same is true with music. Let’s say you were to sit in your garage and play your music loud enough to annoy your neighbors. There is some chance, however small, that the president of a major label could get a flat tire while driving by your house, get out of his car to fix the tire, hear your music seeping out of the garage, and decide that he had to sign you right there on the spot. It could happen, but the odds are about one-in-a-gazillion.
Similarly, you could make a three song demo tape and send it unsolicited to every major and independent label in the country. Who knows, one of the A&R; reps might mistake it for something he actually requested, pop it in his tape deck while he’s cruising down Sunset Boulevard and decide he’s got to sign you. It could happen, but the odds are about ten-in-a-gazillion. On the other hand, you could get some money together, record a professional quality CD, release it yourself, get some radio airplay, some press coverage, some gigs, and make a splash in your local music scene. This certainly wouldn’t guarantee you a stable career as a recording artist, but it would definitely buy you a few more tickets in that lottery. And it would probably get you a good look from a larger company that might be willing to invest their resources in your career and buy you still more "tickets."
My point is this: you’re never going to be able to control all the factors necessary to ensure your success as a recording artists (i.e., you’ll never be able to buy all the tickets in the lottery) . . . not even the most powerful major label can do that. But there are a lot of things you can do to tip the scales in your favor. Some things, like sending out demo tapes, don’t increase your chances very much and aren’t worth the effort. But other things, like making and releasing great records, playing great shows, and working hard to build a following will increase your chances significantly, and get you to a position where other people will be motivated to do things that will help you even more.
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