What does it take to set up your own label?

DJVendetta

Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
I was wondering what you'd need to set up your own label (digital).
I guess anyone could do it, get a graphics designer and know where to promote your releases?

Any thoughts on this?
 
Costs about ten grand to get you started in lawyers fees and upfronts. Then if you go for a proper designer you're looking for another 2 grand and that will compound as they make more and more stuff for you. Also need to get radio play and pay off back alley dj's to play your stuff, then you can call yourself a label.
 
Then if you go for a proper designer you're looking for another 2 grand and that will compound as they make more and more stuff for you.

mate your getting ripped off! lol... a logo and a first release artwork wont cost that much!
 
nah im just kidding. just network. get to know producers and the sound you wanna release. wont cost that much if youre going digital.
 
nah im just kidding. just network. get to know producers and the sound you wanna release. wont cost that much if youre going digital.

guna fucking say! im a graphic designer... thought i might have been missing a trick here!
 
i cant see it being that much at all, vinyl, yes

digital no, u havent got to print nothing, u havent got to cut nothing to plastic,
its all on a computer,
i personally think it will be cheap as chips, thats why there is so many shit labels around! cus every tom dick and harry can just decide they want their own label and bring out ther shit tunes on it....or so it seems to me
 
Now i cant exactly speak from a lot of experience as we're only on our 2nd release. its all about networking tbh. if you dont have the contacts then you're label is going to take a while to get off the ground.

It also takes a lot of work, i find myself up until 3/4am every day organising, sending out dubs, promoting, listening to new dubs, speaking with artists.

Costs: there isnt a lot of costs involved with digital. You need to think about mastering which you can get done pretty cheaply if you shop around. also artwork will cost you abit, it helps to have mates who are good at this and you can buy em a drink or 2 for their work.

Every man and his dog seems to run a digital label what i would say is i wouldnt bother with jumpup unless you have something that really stands out among the rest cos there are soooo many jumpup labels that churn out soo much crap its unreal.
 
The thing I'm worried about is that no-one will actually buy the music will they? even if the tracks are good and you try to promote on forums etc I can't see many people buying them.
 
If the tracks are of good quality and people like them, then people will buy them. There are a lot of djs (me being one of them) who will sit and sort through all the latest trackitdown/beatport releases and choose the ones that take their fancy. so if yours is in that list and they like it then they are more likely to buy it.
 
If the tracks are of good quality and people like them, then people will buy them. There are a lot of djs (me being one of them) who will sit and sort through all the latest trackitdown/beatport releases and choose the ones that take their fancy. so if yours is in that list and they like it then they are more likely to buy it.

im teh same... i dont mind wading through the shit to find the golden nugget
 
Does anyone know stats from online stores? e.g. how many times tracks were bought? I was thinking about this the other day, the top 10 DnB on Beatport can't be selling that well. Even if they sold 5k+ that's not much profit for the producer or label.
 
Does anyone know stats from online stores? e.g. how many times tracks were bought? I was thinking about this the other day, the top 10 DnB on Beatport can't be selling that well. Even if they sold 5k+ that's not much profit for the producer or label.

if you were doing it yourself.... and you make £1 (for easy maths) off each sale and split it 40/60 with the artist... off of 1000 sales, thats £400 for you! not to be sniffed at!
 
you do it for the love of the music and not the profit. but in answer to your question i doubt there are many digital releases (other than the major ones) that hit 5k. i dont know sales figures but i imagine a big release could get anything from 100 to 500 downloads, but this would be for well established label/producer. smaller labels i imagine might be looking at a loss for their first few releases until it becomes more established.
 
Back
Top Bottom