The Future is DIY

So what makes a DIY artist? In recent years there’s been an apparent rise in artists separating themselves from the conforms of record labels and the standard format of signing a deal and worrying about the rest later. DIY artists can come in many forms, whether it’s taking full control of every aspect of their career, maintaining the rights to their Masters, managing themselves or hiring their own team; DIY is ‘doing it yourself’, however best suits the individual.

There’s a mountain of benefits that arise from becoming a DIY artist. No full commitment or legal contracts to follow that would be in place if an artist relied on a record deal, but how can artists gain worldwide success on their own resources?

It’s all about connections in this industry – knowing the right people can get you far. Radio play is as crucial today as it always has been, if an artist can network with the right people they can achieve the promotional attention. However, the larger an act becomes the more likely it is that they will need to employ a manager to (funnily enough) manage all their business commitments; and so begins the building of their team.

Streaming has massively impacted the increase in DIY artists and the lengths of their success. It’s so easy to upload your music to a streaming site and the magnitude of listeners means your chances of an accidental listen are higher than in the days of iTunes and downloads.

“I own all my masters… I would advise every other artist to try and do the same”

AJ Tracey via Twitter (@ajtracey)

Popular London based hip-hop artist, AJ Tracey happily announced that he owns his own masters, stating “I own all my masters… I would advise every other artist to try and do the same”. When looking at his success, it proves that independently running your career can work just as well as if you rely upon a label. Masters should always stay with the artists, they deserve the control over the records that make them.

Personally, I think the future is DIY. The biggest benefit that derives from following the DIY route is owning and controlling your masters.  I’m sure there’s many artists out there who have or are currently being screwed over with re-recording restrictions, royalty payments, licencing ect ect from contracts they’ve signed wherein they’ve consequently signed over their ‘moral rights’. For those who aren’t aware, it’s shamefully a standard for artists to sign over all ‘moral rights’ in contracts. Signing over these rights almost completely restricts what artists can do or disagree with happening to their masters. Masters should always stay with the artists, they deserve the control over the records that make them.