I GOT SIGNED (And Dropped) By A Major Label: What I'd Do Differently
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- So.... It's true! I was signed to a major label, and dropped within the space of 6 months. This is my story and how it helps you with your career today - as there are many things I did wrong, and thankfully, you can avoid what I did!
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Serious? Let’s go.
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Hey! I'm Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is deeply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.
When I was 18, I was signed to a major label (dropped 6 months later) and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!
I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my CZcams channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, CZcams channel and I work directly with labels internationally alongside owning a live agency and management company.
It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!
I've seen plenty of 'I got signed!' videos, but I don't see too many 'I got dropped!' videos 😂
LOL Yeah all in the same year.... impressive eh! 🙂🙂🙂
@@DamianKeyes love you man!!
Made my day. Just the best comment ever.
I got dropped🙋🏾
Am I the only one that wants to hear the single that reached No. 77 on the charts 😶.
Lol it shall never see the light of day 😂😂😂
@@DamianKeyes 😂😂😂 not even if i get like a hundred thousand likes on the comment 🤔
@@DamianKeyes Come on, would be so cool to hear it! 🎸😎
Nope you're not the only one! I'd love to hear that single too.
@@DamianKeyes come on, we all want to hear it!
Deal or no deal, if you're sitting on your career waiting for stuff to happen, stuff doesn't happen.
This is very true!
Your lamp looks like an avocado 😂
Wesley Coleman you should see my avocado!! 😜
Damian Keyes does it look like a lamp?
This happened to my old band. Except we wanted to split from the label. It was a mutual because we felt we were being mismanaged and our album hadn’t been released yet. It had a lot of buzz with fans and the genre and we knew what we were capable of because we had a huge fan base before signing. I negotiated the buying of our masters thus returning 100% of the publishing to the band. I went and shopped a licensing deal to a competitor label who we’d talked to previously. We came to terms. Released the album, it did fantastic and we made money. We went on about our career successfully until we disbanded a couple years later. Later getting back together for a couple special dates every once in a while. Every time I’d see the reps, president or owners from the first label at festivals or shows they always greet me with the “smartest kid in metal” (I wasn’t a kid. I was in my early twenties) there were no hard feelings since the split was mutual and an agreement was reached that we were all happy with. A rep later told me long after my band disbanded that we would get brought up often at multiple labels where he worked when the subject of possibly prematurely splitting (dropping) an artist would come up. We were known as a success story in regards to knowing our potential even when a majorish label did not and reaching that potential by simply not stopping and staying the course we had set before the labels came knocking.
The point is focus on the music. If you’re getting offers from labels definitely capitalize on those opportunities but do so in the smartest way possible but make sure your band or music keeps moving forward. Don’t let a label slow you down.
The thing that scares me most about an opportunity like that is losing control of my music or having recordings parked. I could deal with any amount of failure but being prevented from releasing songs would be the worst possible situation.
Mother's are always the number one fan 😁
Hahah yep!! The one thing you can count on 😂😂
She is a very good sport! 🙂🙂🙂
I was so bad that even my mother didn't believe in me 😂😂
It is possible 😁
Mine isn't... My parents don't think music is a "real" job. They hardly cared when I released my first single. My sister told me that my dad said I was being egotistical spending so much time recording my second one that I'm planning to release in a few weeks. Even though literally everyone else I talk to (random strangers included) tells me to keep going at it. Kinda hurts, ngl, but at the same time it's a good testing point for my own belief in my abilities.
@@sophiakorz hahahahaha I completely understand. Like when any of my relatives used to ask me the question as to what I do. I'd make some shit up initially because if I would have said I make Music, the next response would be, oh no not your hobby, what do you do for work. I remember there came a time when I was like no I'm not going to lie any more, I make music now deal with it! Its an actual profession.
I created a streaming service in 00s. We had a bout 30 indie bands , 2 of them got signed to majors..saw their vid on MTV then they disapeared . Better to do it on your own...at least you have an option nowadays
Any advice on starting a streaming service
I love hearing insights like this, so interesting. Agree that no one would turn down a major haha. Even if you don’t get the mega success, it’s got to be such a great experience and learning curve. Plus you’d increase your network to the max!
Yep, I think looking at it from an experience point of view is the healthier way to do it!
Fugazi.
Right
dude thanks for that. you've touched on points that no one touches.
I feel like some artists that succeed in a label are in the mindset of not learning and then when the label doesn't drop them and they feel like they are worth more than 50% or whatever, they feel betrayed... which is weird in some cases. it's just how the business works
Yeah agreed, thanks Roy 😊😊
Personally, I don't think I would ever sign with a major label or any label of any kind. I would rather stay Indie and build my career myself and retain control over it all. If things start to get difficult to manage you can always hire employees, but that's just me.
yes definitely stay independent, it will require more work and there's definitely no guarantees of getting radio play no matter how good or popular your song is, but the upside is you retain all the rights to your music and can release whatever you want and not have to beg a label exec to release a single from the album or worse, have a song released that you don't want as a single.
love the story❣️ and what a breeeeze... no ads in the middle 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 (i’m listening while working out)
Thanks for your personal story Damian. As always I think that you are absolutely right. Looking forward to the next video.
77 is still crazy :) thats insane! thanks for all the videos still, like these stories over corona stuff. Still watched a couple but its doing my head in hahah, miss pre-virus times man lol. Hope you're keeping well!
very powerful. You're the only charge of your destiny. Keep up the great work man!
Great storytelling, and very solid, realistic advice. Bravo! Very much wish I had spent my first industry experiences in film music asking questions (even ones I deemed stupid at the time) made more mistakes, etc. The way we make money, distribute our music, etc has all changed, but the determination, the hustle and the drive must all still be there!
This video was so timely! My friend and I are making music while studying full-time and we have been extremely loving every single minute of it! We recently got approached by a renowned distributor wanting to work with us but their terms were far from good and the person's attitude was pretty lousy to say the least. Thanks for validating our decision to say no and continue making and enjoying music on our own terms!
Love this!! It’s so important sometimes to keep the love for the music at the forefront 🙏🏻🙏🏻 let me know if I can help!
@@DamianKeyes I can't agree with you anymore Damian. It's the love for music that keeps us going. It would mean so much to us if you could check us out and give us any feedback! We're uni students from Singapore currently hoping to turn our dream of making music for a living into a reality 🙏🏻 Here's our latest single! open.spotify.com/track/1mJ9yQqU8fDI3DiQ1z3TPY?si=aZnsBgiuQUqcRpiIv9BM5Q
Very interesting and informative material Damian. Thank you for sharing a lot of knowledge. I feel the more in control you are of your vision, your material what you stand for as an artist the more you of a say you will have when meeting with a label. As you have mentioned on a previous video the more you can do, accomplish and more attractive you seem to a label the more control you will have.
Yes a label can certainly be super beneficial but we artists can not wait for someone to do the job for us.
Thanks again and will keep sharing this channel .
Superb, thanks for sharing your interesting story. Great video production and well spoken
_Really, the video was very enlightening!!_ 😍
*_Absolutely loved the facts (only filled with positive vibes) that you've put in this whole video_* ❤
Loved that story! Really changed my perspective on things! Thanks 😊
Thanks for sharing this story Damo! Crazy how fast things happen in the music industry
Thanks for sharing your experience Damian!! you're amazing.
Thank you so much for this video. It helped to ground my expectations and reorient my goals. Killer content man, keep it coming!
Dope. I think building your own foundation and going from there is important. Also because their is a major disadvantage through cyber warfare being focused is gigantic. Thanks for the share.
Loved your content, it's so honest! The best "tips and hacks" I could get from you so far were to be focused, to work hard and to be prepared to take advantage from opportunities that life gives you. Great stuff man!
Take control!! 100% true! Thank you for sharing your experience Mr. Keyes.
Thanks so much 😊😊😊
Great story! Thank you for sharing!
Wow very powerful video - Damian respects to you my guy for sharing your journey
What a video! really interesting and a lot of really good points. not that I have too much life experience in music, but signing to a major isn't necessary anymore. That point about vanity is extremely relevant, but yeah having the education and control can be the difference. Today's music business is exactly that, and through your videos and my college courses, I'm convinced running a band as an entrepreneurial venture and a small business is a sustainable way to have a long career without a major label.
Again, an awesome video! Thank you, Damian
Hats off to you! Sending good vibes your way
I loved the video very informative! My first song is dropping tonight thank to you I finally had the courage to post!
Your channel is extremely real and helpful. Thank you for actually helping and giving tips
Really glad to help 😊😊
Thanks for this video, we were asked to a label and I had NO idea how to process the opportunity. So comforting to hear from real experiences.
Thanks for sharing priceless information, love your channel
Very insightful stuff. Thank you. I always enjoy your vids. There are plenty of vids about how people got "signed," but this is the first I saw about being dumped. (I raise my glass to the Dawg Pound brother. Cheers!)
Thank you so much for sharing this! Such an eye opener!
Thank you. I took mental notes. I think I'm getting signed so I'm just prepping myself.
Your doing gods work damo...instruct the yoofs, on the hyper highs and the dirty lows of this biz...
Enjoyed and entertained, definitely will do my best!
Thanks for making this video, very interesting.
Yeah, baby! It's up to you! Let's do it!
Man this was a great video. I'm just an engineer so it's not really my realm but I used to think that getting signed was not really beneficial because of how predatory the majors are and how they'll just drop most of the people they sign. What you've made me realize is that just as they're trying to take advantage of artists (mostly), an artist who gets signed should have the mindset of 'what can i get out of this?' and definitely not assume it's a free ride from there on out. I've seen a couple people get signed by majors and never heard about them again. Great video.
Thanks, for the insights, this makes a lot of sense a brings a new perspective that becomes crucial at that point. My intention now is be independent but if I imagine the opportunity, it must be hard to say no. I probably wouldn't
Thank you for sharing your story!
so much truth in here! very good video!
This one was really interesting, one of the best advice providers i’ve watched, thanks a mil.
Thanks so much! Appreciate that man 🤟
REALLy good analysis
Brilliant video, great work 🙌
I can see where your hunger for this topic comes from. Good on you brother! There is a lesson in every bump along the road if your smart enough to see it. Looks like you turned yours into something good. Cheers Damo. You got yourself a subscriber.
Thanks Jason! Great to have you here 😊😊
thank you damian!!! love your vids
Great video. Wonderful advice!
great video dude, top notch content as always, extremely glad you are imparting your experiences to the rest of us!
Ahhh thanks Eric!! Appreciate that a lot. Let me know if I can help with anything 😊😊
Wow I never would have guessed major labels signed so many people and that so few of them actually make it! I think most people think as you did that "being signed" IS making it when clearly it's just a great opportunity. I really enjoyed your story :)
Very good video Damian! 😊😊
Thank you man I’m learning so much on your channel
Thanks for your honest insights! To me this sets me up to use as much of time as I can to develop instead of waiting for a miracle.
Definitely. All about developing your own skills and music business education, it’s so important to know how all these things work, you’ll be stronger for it 😊😊
@@DamianKeyes and knowing the right people to help! ;)
Love this story man! Noticing the Cleveland shirt and starting to read between the lines about your production schedule lol.
HA HA YOU KNOW IT!!! 🙂🙂🙂
Thank you so much for this. Most of the advice that can be found online on this subject consists of people who were never signed to a label saying you should never sign to a label.
Great advice, thanks man! 👏
Thanks a lot for your insight Damian! You have a follower all the way from South Africa.
Could you please speak to what we should look out for in deal when they are offered to us, especially to protect ourselves and our interests.
Great video! No experience is useless if you learn from it.
Thank you for sharing brother
Just discovered your page. Love your content! Been taking lots of notes. Keep it coming! ✌🏾
Awesome!! Great to have you here 😊😊
yes it is a buzz a big buzz lol brings back memory's of the phone going ever night at 11pm that gave me 2 hours to sit down after a long day at work. and think what i was going to say . like your self i was young at the time. thank Damian
Great video.. again! 👍🏼
Thank you, very great content!
I'm glad your success. thanks your vids :) - Ferco
Love the Cleveland shirt btw :)
Best advice of the year in entire music industry mate! "Squeeze that lemon!" Always enjoying watching your stuff Damian!
Haha thank you! Awesome to have you in the community 😊😊😊
Dude this is kinda shook me up too like dang, That phrase of you got drop why would anyone else want to pick up the slack OH MY GOD that hits hard
Never thought you'd mention Annihilator in this channel, my band RipTide supported them in Manchester last year! 🤘
Really great sharing
Great story! Alot of people bash labels, you never really hear the labels side. I appreciate this video because it gives more scope to that. Big Sean's story is similar he got signed to Kanyes label and they shelved him for months! Instead of waiting he dropped mixtapes and got hot from those. By the time his album came out he had a buzz. He didn't wait for permission. He ran with it. From what I've seen with friends who have been signed - People think when they signed they made, but that's actually when the real work starts 🏃🏾♂️
Right
Great advice
Hello Damian, I really love your content... It's very interesting! Could please tell us or even make a video on how can we be reached by real major label A&R...
Because for so long, I constantly receive some stupid email or scammers who pretend to work for big music labels like Universal and I do feel it's just someone who just want to take advantage of us ! Do you have a video about how these days Major labels approach independant artists ? There must be several ways, don't you think ?
This is probably one of the realest videos I've ever seen from you! I've had a few experiences with majors now, put out a few through Sony about 2 years ago, and it was the craziest experience ever! Even though I'm not with them now, I still push stuff through them and am in the midst of some other cool bits with them. I feel I now have the best of both worlds with my new label deal - they distribute via Universal, so still have the pedigree/radio connections/money/spotify leverage to help make tunes a hit, whilst also keeping on that indie level in terms of how much they're putting out a week, so can definitely make sure the music is a priority. Your experience even though was a few years back now, is SPOT ON, and very true - most audiences only see the hits from majors, and not the hundreds of artists that really struggle with the exact same deal!
Thanks for this Sami, such an insightful comment! Glad what you have now is working out for you, let me know if I can help with anything 😊😊 thank you!
Damian Keyes for sure - I actually messaged your insta DM’s - check for bvdkult
How do you do it? I managed to get millions of views yet no one contacts me :(
Scarlett Rose how do you get millions of views? Lol
@@mattiatedesco01 I got viral somehow
Thanks for sharing that.
That is F*cking brutal.
Respect.
Very informative Video Damo! I can relate and got signed to a major as well, some years back. I promise to keep this as brief as possible, in hopes of not boring everyone to death. haha. AND WE'RE OFF! :) I was a guitarist/songwriter in a rock band out of Chicago, IL. We spent years, writing, recording, shopping management, playing anywhere and everywhere that would have us. We loved the process, loved the grind, and were honestly working our asses off to build something in a serious way. We all had previous experience from being involved with management, booking agencies, independent labels etc. But none of us had been signed to a major in our other bands. And I now see, that from the beginning of that project, it was definitely our collective eventual goal. We started getting response, recording and selling albums and merch. Touring and opening for quite a few major label acts, networking our asses off, and started gaining a consistent following. We ended up being able to sell out some large venues after a few years, anywhere from 150-1000 capacity venues within 3 or 4 states of our home base. We signed with management, and really were quite happy and extremely excited with the momentum. Around a year or so later, ended up getting a deal with Island Records. We went in head first. This is what we wanted, and knew we had to say yes! Went to Nashville to record the album with a really excellent engineer and producer. Got the album done. Waited, waited, and waited some more. Called and called, and finally got a response around 6 months later after finishing the album. Management said we were shelved, but still under contract, and we obviously didn't own the rights to that particular recording. So we invested in hiring an experienced lawyer to get out of our contract. Took almost a year, but we got out of it. It did cost us, but we all knew it was in our best interest. We had gained momentum, gotten efficient at writing/ recording/ touring. And made some contacts in the process. Not many, but a few that were very good to us, and kind enough to help in the future. We ended up saving for a year, and went to record at Butch Vigs' studio in Madison Wisconsin. Wonderful studio. And great crew there. We ended up with what is still today our best album. It was all an amazing experience! :) That's not to say there wasn't a lot of hard times along the way, and feeling shaken from getting dropped by a major that soon. Knowing no one would ever hear the album recorded Nashville, including us. But we moved on, and enjoyed 3 or so years more of touring, songwriting, and honing our skills the best we knew how. Unfortunately the band parted ways, but we all learned something from getting signed to a major. We did a reunion show in Chicago a few years ago. Was just like old times, and I could see in everyone's eyes, that we all remembered why we started playing music. We ate, drank, and slept that shit. And I think every one of us would do it all again. Good vibes your way...
What band was it?
omg, I'm in an almost IDENTICAL situation to the one you described. we got take in by a huge company, and made the mistake of assuming everything would be done. Same outcome - flakier replies, delays, etc, and now in the position of having a wake up call and starting to take control of everything. thanks for this :)
It’s all about experiences and then how you learn from them isn’t it... you’re smashing taking control of it 😊😊
interesting video man! thanks a lot
Thank you 😊😊 glad you found it interesting!
40k new tracks on spotify per day , wow. I knew music industry was competitive but this is ridiculous
The cream always rises to the top
"Rinse that lemon." subscribed.
I respect you 💯 man , we love this bunch of the advice u give us .....I love man✌️😇
Thanks so much, means a lot honestly!
So proud of you!
😊😊😊😊
I was always with the belief I would refuse if I get a major label knocking on my door
However watching your videos really brought in some great points. I believe I would follow your advice at this point
Great frikin video
A Cleveland Browns shirt?? Ayeee that's where I'm from!
I so can relate DK. I got a "development deal" that dragged on for about 2 years. Some of the original members went off on their own. Everything fell apart. Then we had a management deal that didn't go anywhere. It happens all the time.
Love love love the Browns!!!!
I live 5 miles from the Fottball Hall of Fame and 57 miles from the Rock Hall....anyway...js
Dog pound!! I’m still learning as we don’t have much nfl in UK but when we move later this year I will be checking them out at home! 😊😊😊
Currently signed to a major label, also running my own label on the side, and of course got a lot of past releases on a myriad of labels both absolutely huge and small - This video here is the God’s honest truth. Couldn’t have put it better myself! Damo, u the man 🤘🏼
That is kind of brilliant because you can see what does and doesn't work and apply it to your own label. Good on you!
Check out my music. Got 15 albums on all platforms
Great video, subbed!
Great insights Damian!
Thanks so much dude 🙂🙂🙂
thank u for sharing...
Congrats Man
Thanks for the video. I am going through this now! The process started two years ago, then finally signed 15. months later... by the 4th largest global label....great deal.... Not much help with the album or even producers so I pushed on and delivered an album that they "loved". I finished the album in August this year it was sent to be mixed and mastered and at this point I started to chase a release date with no responses or at least very slow responses. I then get a call last week saying they want to drop me. Beyond gutted. Not having that 'security' of knowing these experts are behind you is then suddenly a scary place to be. The world of promo and marketing is the part that is hard especially without contacts and a manager. I'm determined not to stop and to continue without them BUT it's definitely put me off big labels - I'd much rather find a smaller label or self release but essentially anyone that has the time or desire to want to help push things forward. I currently can't perform (under contract) I can't release (under contract) but some major lessons learned. It was a good experience and I still would have signed. Hopefully, I'll come out of this with my masters and some of the benefits from the contract but sadly there weren't many opportunities to network or socialise as they were SO slow over the 2 year process. Note to others would be to consider properly the benefits of small vs big vs self release. Could the money be spent on promo or marketing instead...
it happened to a friend buddy. 5O k in advance, huge studio recording, amazing big tour, blablabla... and got dropped like shit ! he's going to court now, to have his song right back
Licensing deals are the way to go. That’s what my band did when we signed. Doesn’t come along with all the perks but in the long term it worked out considering we split from the label pretty quickly within the first 2 years.
immediate thumbs up for Cleveland 👍🏼 🏈 🎸
This is your origin story!! How you became a superhero.
If I was to get signed, I would just be so eager to figure out how the business stuff works. I'm neck deep in the creative, at all times, but I am so clumsy with marketing, branding, even networking sometimes. I could really benefit from a label in that regard.
Haha YES!! I do want to be a superhero 😂
Yeah definitely - the best thing to do would just be to soak up everything, you’re only in a better place with more knowledge regardless what happens 😊😊
@@DamianKeyes you already are. I'm certainly better for it.