So you wanna run a record label?

What’s the story?
Our video clip features Rocket Girl Records – a small, yet perfectly formed, independent record label run by Vinita Rocket Girl from the front room of her London Flat.

You mean she runs a whole record label all by herself?
Yep. Since starting Rocket Girl Records in 1998, Vinita has released almost 30 singles and albums by a number of bands and artists from all around the world.

Neat. How does she do it?
Well, before we go into that, you ought to know that here in the UK we have a rich and well-documented tradition for producing dynamic ‘indie’ labels such as Rough Trade, Ankst, and Rocket Girl, amongst many, many others.

What’s an ‘indie’ label?
Well, there are the indies and the majors, and it’s a kind of David & Goliath thing. The majors are ‘the big five’ - Sony, EMI, Warner, Polygram and BMG. The Indies – or independent labels – are weenie little outfits usually run by their owners out of their garden shed (or front room) on budgets that wouldn’t even cover the cost of a coffee machine for the majors.

Are they mad?
If you’re asking this question then you’re just a soulless bread-head. Running an Indie Label is very rarely about making money – it’s about sharing your passion for the music with as wide an audience as possible. If, whilst doing that, you make a bit of money, then that money then goes into putting out more music by more bands that you like.

Yeah, but don’t the ‘majors’ already do that?
Are you kidding? The Majors let Indie Labels work their butts off discovering and breaking new bands, and then step in flashing bundles of wodge under the noses of said new bands, tempting them away to a life of comfort and fame on the back of someone else’s hard work.

Is that right?
Well, almost. ‘Indies’ and ‘Majors’ have an uneasy partnership whereby many ‘Indies’ allow a ‘Major’ to invest in their label both for a financial boost and for added muscle and distribution – something which basically means the Indie label can get their product into shops that they would otherwise fail to reach.

I see… so how d’you start your own indie record label?
Try to get into an Indie label to pick up a working knowledge of the music industry and how it operates. You’ll need a grasp of finance, contracts, recording agreements, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, promotion, merchandising, royalties, and licensing.

There’s lots of top advice available: the BPI (see Links) has a download entitled ‘Advice on how to start an independent record company’.

Do indie label bosses make money?
If you’re looking for the Merc and Rolex, look elsewhere. Indie Label Bosses do it for the sheer love and masochistic pleasure of putting out records by a bunch of musicians they adore and loathe at the same time. Yet without them we’d be facing an endless, gruelling diet of Shania Twain and Boyzone. More tea, vicar?