I think it can be done and I’ll try and come up with some ideas — unless anyone else has been there, done that (which I haven’t )

Cheers!

True, but in order to be used effectively promo on the web still takes a skill set many musicians lack.(had some friends, these guys were great musicians but HORRIBLE at the promo end of things). I think it’s a great start for small bands, but it’s always going to be hard for a DIY band to do the kind of promotion you need to fill a stadium. I’m not in any way implying the record companies are necessary because of this, as I said before there are professional ad agencies that are great at promo, I just don’t know how a DIY band could reach an agreement with them.

And then along came the net …

Cheers!

Promo on a massive scale is still something beyond the means of most DIY artists, it’s the one thing the labels can do for an artist IF they want to. From what I’ve read, labels can be very fickle about who they promote, if the excecs don’t like a bands new album they can withhold promotion and have it die on the vine. Ask Fiona apple about this. If they are feeling really nasty, they will hold a band to it’s contract, so they are stuck with a record company that refuses to promote them, and can’t sign with another label even if the new label wants them and would promote them. Bands stuck in this situation would be better off with NO recording contract at all.
I think there are a lot of promotional agencies out there that could do as good, or better a job promoting a band than the labels do, but the average DIY band can’t afford them. Sad to say as far as the promotion angle goes I don’t have a solution.

I have to wonder how much cheaper it would be for an artist to strike an arrangement with “non-label” sources of the supporting work. Surely, the labels’ services are astronomically more expensive?

Advertising / promoting artists? Events and gigs? Merchandise?

Our artists still need people behind the scenes to do these things – most of which are still money earners. Perhaps we ought to take a look at the jobs that need to be done to support the artists and see how they in turn earn money.