Selling The Dream, Or Monetising Hope?: Britain's 'Unsigned' Music Industry

'Thanks for buying this book; if you're the kind of person I imagine you to be, you picked it up because you dream of playing at Wembley Stadium one day. I also reckon you're smart enough to realise you won't find any guarantee of superstardom printed on the pages inside...' (Smith 3)

Stuart James Smith, Author of How To Make It In Music

It is almost impossible to estimate the number of musical artists without a recording contract, (or, to use the standard term, 'unsigned' artists) currently active in the United Kingdom today. In hundreds of venues up and down the country, on any given night, you will find bands struggling to make it to 'square one'; that often all-too-elusive first step in an artist's career in the music industry: A recording contract. This is very much an industry in its own right, as promoters vie with their local competitors for a share of the gig-going populace and their disposable income, whilst collectives and other organisations produce material and offer advisory services geared towards aiding struggling bands. In addition to this, there are an array of on-line resources trumpeting their ability to help emerging artists break into a career in music, as well as competitions offering new bands the chance at playing international festivals, securing airtime on TV or radio, studio time – even recording contracts or development deals in some cases. One thing most, if not all, of these services have in common is the fact that they have managed to monetise their activities in some way. They provide goods and services for which they expect to be paid, and they have found unsigned artists and amateur musicians more than willing to part with their money for a shot at 'the big time'.

This essay will examine the various aspects of the unsigned industry, focusing on two of the most important arenas in which it operates and discussing some of the ways in which they do business. As part of this process, we will look at specific examples of unsigned music businesses, what they claim to offer to the emerging artist and how they profit from these offerings. Another important consideration is perhaps the nature of the 'producer-consumer' relationships at the heart of the different aspects of this hitherto-understudied 'shadow industry'; who is selling what to whom, for what reason, and to what end? Who benefits most from the business of these organisations, ostensibly devoted to aiding the emergence of fresh musical talent in the United Kingdom? To close, I will attempt to pinpoint two areas for further research, in the attempt to answer an important question which arises from study of this industry: Is the unsigned music business 'selling the dream' or merely monetising hope?

Print Media

Print media play an important role in the unsigned industry, whether in the form of self-help guides, underground fanzines or directories of useful information and contacts. The latter of these, the directories, in particular present themselves as invaluable resources for new artists looking to make it in the industry. They typically contain listings for venue promoters, record companies, radio stations, magazines for review submission, management companies and so on. Many of the more comprehensive directories list peripheral concerns, such as rehearsal space hire, instrument retailers, advisory services and legal advice. In the United Kingdom, mcr:music's The Unsigned Guide is generally seen as the industry standard, containing an exhaustive list of contacts for anything from major record labels to PR and publishing companies, in their words, 'researching the areas of the music industry which we feel are of particular use and interest to unsigned and emerging talent...'(Ed. Dodgson 6). The publication, which launched in 2003, has fairly humble origins, starting life as a photocopied list of contacts useful to artists that had not yet secured representation. This was distributed by Unsigned Guide publishers Stef Loukes and Lee Donnelly, then in charge of the day-to-day management of the rehearsal space attached to Manchester's Boardwalk club. Coming into regular contact with unsigned artists as a result of their occupation, Donnelly and Loukes often received enquiries for information about local and out-of-town promoters and labels from the bands who frequented their rehearsal rooms, and, as Loukes recalls ' as time went on, bands would come to us to see if we had an updated list or any more contacts we could put them in touch with' (Dodgson). Sensing a prospective business opportunity, the pair began development of the initial Unsigned Guide, a process which took around 4 years, and which was aided by a small team of volunteers, as well as assistance from the Musicians Union. At first, the early editions of the book only covered the North-West of England, followed in 2005 by a book dedicated to London and its surrounding areas. In 2006 an edition encompassing the whole of the United Kingdom was released, a format which persists today. New editions are released roughly every fifteen months, and at the time of writing in 2011, The Unsigned Guide is currently in its fourth UK edition.

Though the guide offers a range of useful hints and advice on pursuing a career in pop, indeed, claiming to shine 'a guiding light over the music industry'(Dodgson), much of that information can actually be sourced on-line free-of-charge. No, the thing that gives the publication the majority of its value is its exhaustive contact list, as Loukes admits: 'The unique selling point in our eyes was always the information in the contact listings... The aim was always to take the legwork out of the music industry for bands' (Dodgson). This is potentially problematic as, given the vicissitudes of grass-roots concert promotion and independent record companies in the UK, turnover in this field is often exceptionally high. A small local gig promotion company may conceivably find itself considered for inclusion in the guide, only to go out of business by the time the book goes to print, thereby rendering the relevant contact information contained therein obsolete. In addition to this, live music venues of the type suitable for emerging bands to secure gigs at are opening and closing with increasing rapidity up and down the country, with several venues administered by the Barfly live music venue chain closing at relatively short notice, and even iconic clubs such as London's 100 Club 'facing the threat of closure' (Unknown(ii)). This potential obsolescence of contact information takes on greater importance when one considers the cost of purchasing a copy of The Unsigned Guide - £36.99. The retail price is fairly reasonable for a hefty 864-page book of music industry contacts, but when one considers that the 'Yellow Pages' nature of the information on offer leads to 'in-built' obsolescence after a relatively short period of time, and that this means that one's copy of The Unsigned Guide will need to be replaced with each subsequent edition in order for the information to remain relatively up-to-date, it could be argued that it is perhaps a little expensive for the musician struggling to make ends meet.

Live Performance

Another vital aspect of the unsigned industry in Britain today is the 'thriving' (Smith 13) amateur gig circuit. Comprising hundreds of venues and a myriad of independent promoters in addition to several medium-sized promotion companies and venue chains, the unsigned band scene is, in essence, the life-blood of the industry. The overwhelming majority of emerging artists get valuable experience playing in front of audiences in venues ranging in size from pub back rooms, to larger venues able to hold several hundred people, every act carefully honing their craft in the hope of being spotted by the 'right people', and taking steps to build the beginnings of a small fan-base.

As with any entertainment venture, this has been monetised to a great extent; bodies through the door mean drinks sales for the venue, ticket sales and entry fees for the promoter (who, if they are separate from the venue ownership, will have to pay them for the hire of the room), and if the musicians are lucky, payment for the services of the artists on show. One important consideration when discussing this system of operation is the concept of 'pay-to-play; with unsigned concert promoters often receiving 'hundreds of emails from bands every week' (Smith 14), competition for slots on club-nights catering to unsigned bands and artists can be fierce, and the quality of the acts an unknown quantity. Many promoters try to insulate themselves against potential financial risk by making any booking contingent upon the ability of the band in question to sell a set number of tickets in advance, usually around 30-50 tickets at £5 or more. However, this brings with it certain potential problems, particularly in the area of credibility, as Cath Aubergine, one of Manchester's most influential online journalists points out:

'These nights are not about music, they're not for music fans, they're solely about making money for so-called promoters. It's the musical equivalent of vanity publishing; nobody will be there apart from your friends and family and those of the other bands on the bill who may not even have much in common with you, and it won't get you your big break. Most influential people in the music scene don't go near these nights, and just having your name on their listings sends out the message that you're not good enough - or not prepared to put in the effort - to get a proper gig.' (qtd. In Jones)

Another way in which the unsigned industry manifests itself in the UK's amateur live music scene is in the phenomenon of 'Battle of the Bands'-style competitions. These types of operation range from the small independent local 'one-off' competitive live music events, to lucrative multi-tiered extravaganzas, usually consisting of a set of local heats, followed by local, regional, national and in some cases international finals. This concept too, is not without controversy, as the case of Surface Unsigned shows.

Surface Unsigned was a large national 'battle-of-the-bands' competition which attracted criticism about a perceived lack of transparency, and that it was solely motivated by the desire to profit from its entrants, primarily young unsigned musicians. This was pointed out by blogger Danny Smith in the local arts scene blog www.createdinbirmingham.com, in which Smith pointed out the various perceived shortcomings of the Surface Unsigned Festival modus operandi. Smith noted that 'Surface don't really do any promotion, that they leave to the bands to do themselves, expecting each band to sell 25 tickets each' (Smith, D.), and opined that the venue was far from full as a result. He also went on to publish the details of a contract which all competition entrants are obliged to sign, which seemed to suggest that all bands entering must sell at least 25 tickets, and that if they don't they will not be allowed to progress no matter how many text votes (priced at £1 plus usual network rate) they received from the audience. On the subject of telephone text voting, Surface has this to say:

'The text vote was set up for fans who cannot make it to your gig(s) but still want to show their support for your band. When bands and artists get as far as the Regional and National Showcases, the venue capacity makes it impossible to keep an accurate track on audience votes. With the text vote the public can still contribute.'

(Source: http://www.surfacefestival.com/faqs.html)

According to Smith, the net result of all of this is that bands are circumstantially forced to pay for unsold tickets themselves if they want to succeed in the competition, a situation which leads to potentially great profits for Surface, as Danny Smith notes:

'...You... only get the money back from tickets sales if you sell all 25 which is even then only a pound a ticket. So for 25 £6 tickets, the bands get £25 and Surface gets £125 now there are a minimum of six bands at each gig so that means each gig they get a minimum of £750... now the first round of the Birmingham heats there are 38 gigs (sic), which adds up too £28,500!' (Smith, D.)

Danny Smith was promptly contacted by Surface's legal representation with a threat of civil action if he did not withdraw the contract excerpt he posted, citing breach of copyright as the grounds. However, this episode, and the controversy surrounding it (Surface found themselves subject to 'the Streisand Effect' (Arthur), as bloggers across the country decided to repost the excerpt in protest against the organisation's handling of the affair), seem to have affected the way that the newly-rebranded 'Surface Festival' currently do business. On their company website, Surface go to great pains to make the competition entrance process as transparent as possible, giving full details of ticket prices and artist gate share, how the text voting system works, also detailing the process by which artists must make a cash deposit in order to secure their place in the competition:

'At your meeting for the Festival there will be a one-off deposit of £50 per band in order to secure your first gig slot. Only bands and artists that get booked onto the Festival pay the deposit. You will receive the full deposit back on the day of your first gig if you sell 25 tickets. If you do not sell 25 tickets you can still play, there is no minimum amount of tickets you have to sell. Experience has shown that if we do not charge a deposit some bands and artists will drop out on the day of their gig, leaving us with an empty slot which could have been given to another band.' (Source: http://www.surfacefestival.com/faqs.html)

In addition to this, they address the issue of bands being compelled to purchase unsold tickets:

'Surface Festival will never ask bands and artists to pay for tickets in advance nor will you have to pay for any unsold tickets. Simply give any unsold tickets back to your area manager on the day of your gig.'

(Source: http://www.surfacefestival.com/faqs.html)

Whether or not artists must still sell a minimum number of tickets to progress further in the competition is unclear.

Further Research

This essay was an attempt to introduce the unsigned music industry in the UK. Of course, it is by no means an exhaustive examination; indeed, an acute lack of data makes such a task undoubtedly more arduous than would be the case with it's larger, more powerful, and less 'distributed' (i.e. more concentrated and centralised) parent industry, the record business. It is relatively simple to source record sales figures for a given year, or gate receipts for tours by notable artists. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the fact that many major record labels are publicly-listed companies, and as such are subject to greater stringencies in the area of transparency. The same can not be said of companies such as Surface Festival, which hosts very little company information on its web-page; no lists of directors, no sales figures – not even a company history. One possible area for future research might try to address this issue by attempting to source this kind of information, data which would form the bedrock of any serious study of the unsigned industry. It may be useful (though difficult) to compile attendance numbers and amounts of revenue generated by the unsigned band circuit in the United Kingdom, and sales figures of print resources such as The Unsigned Guide. Roughly, how much is the unsigned industry in this country worth? The honest answer is that we currently have no idea, and in truth, such a figure should be a starting point to work from before attempting to unpack the other myriad issues surrounding the industry.

Another area for research which unfortunately was beyond the scope of this short piece of writing, and which would likely prove invaluable, is an examination of online resources available to emerging artists, and the way in which they have monetised. The internet is an indispensable tool for musicians looking to promote their music; free social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter have become the first port-of-call for bands looking to expand their fan-base, but there are also organisations that benefit financially from assisting new artists in their attempts to break into the recording industry. One could examine the ways in which they profit from their activities, and how they aid the artists in question. It would also be worth looking into the practices of music download/streaming sites such as Apple's iTunes, Napster and Spotify, determining what (if anything) they charge for hosting and selling music, and whether this affects equality of access for artists not secured to a record label. There are also online publishing companies such as Sentric Music (www.sentricmusic.com) who collect PRS and MCPS royalties on behalf on unsigned acts, in addition to providing their stable of artists with synchronisation opportunities. Sentric is free to join, but it seems unlikely that they would offer such a service out of the goodness of their hearts alone. The unsigned industry, like any other industry, is based upon profit – however, the exact nature of how, and how much, individual organisations profit still remains in the shadows. Perhaps it is time to thrust the unsigned music industry into the light and discover, once and for all, whether it truly is 'selling the dream' or merely monetising hope.

List of References

Books

Ed. Smith, S. J. 2008. How to Make it in Music. London. Dennis Publishing.

Ed. Dodgson, L. 2010. The Unsigned Guide: UK Edition Four. Manchester. mcr:music Ltd.

Periodicals

Arthur, C. 2009. 'The Streisand Effect: Secrecy in the Digital Age'. The Guardian. 19^th March, pp. 6

On-Line Resources

Author Unknown (i). Surface Festival FAQs. Available at: http://www.surfacefestival.com/faqs.html (Accessed on April 25^th 2011)

Author Unknown (ii). Legendary Punk Venue 100 Club Facing Closure. Available at:

http://www.nme.com/news/oasis/53128 (Accessed on April 25^th 2011)

Dodgson, L. Life Before the Unsigned Guide. Available at: http://www.theunsignedguide.com/blog/5/life-before-the-unsigned-guide/

(Accessed on: April 25^th 2011)

Jones, M. Q&A: Cath Aubergine, ManchesterMusic.co.uk. Available at:

http://www.theunsignedguide.com/blog/74/qa-cath-aubergine-manchestermusiccouk-/

(Accessed on: April 25^th 2011)

Smith, D. Surface Unsigned. Available at: http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2008/03/18/surface-unsigned/

(Accessed on: April 25^th 2011)

Websites

http://www.sentricmusic.com (Accessed on April 25^th 2011)