My request to be considered for their project was as one of an intermediate in the business, and wanting to take my career to the next level. I would gain the benefit of experts who, already in the field, would know how to implement that for which I’ve no training or experience. The application appears to be one expecting many of these components to already be established, so I’m not entirely sure how this would be of benefit to an indie musician. It might be something in which an already established artist may be interested. Probably someone who already has the benefit of marketing, promotion, recording/production teams, distribution and many other things… in fact, perhaps someone who already has a record deal would like to give Nettwerk 50% of the earnings of his or her efforts.

But being an entrepreneur means you’ve got to have a basic understanding of legal (contracting and IP), accounting and tax, investment/funding, marketing and sales — all in addition to the base operations of your business (composing, arranging, producing, performing live and/or studio).

If you’re unwilling or unable to figure out a basic understanding of all of those fields which are part of every business, then you’re an employee at best and a victim at worst.

Of course none of your best efforts help, if access to market is controlled by an all powerful cartel, which it was and arguably still is to quite a degree. So at least the (much too slow) death of the cartel will hopefully restore some normal decent business behavior.

However this doesn’t change the fundamentals of supply vs. demand. As we increasingly find out, the supply of rather good recorded music is increasingly limitless. So correspondingly, the market value for recorded music is getting nearer to zero all the time. The supply of very good live music is probably not quite as plentiful, so at least in the short term, there’s probably some money in that.

But that means that “labels” as a separate commercial industry for recorded music is dead. While more comprehensive holistic ventures, which unite all of the things a music maker can and must do seem to make increasingly more sense. It also reflects the reality that most music makers have a combination of revenue streams – some work for music stores, some teach, some work for equipment manufacturers, some write software, some produce, some work musical theater in addition to doing rock/pop gigs, etc.

So my bottom line point is, that I would not call this new venture a “Label”. It deserves a different term. Not sure if there is one yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see one evolving. Heck, why don’t you coin a new term in this blog?

Recording industry arrangements have always stood out from other industries – even other IP industries – for the way the ‘investors’ exploit the ones receiving their investments. The traditional deals are shameful! To bring the system more in line with traditional venture capitalism and traditional (non-music industry) investment relationships would be a welcomed shift.

And yes, you’re right about the 50%. Especially when the other revenue streams are considered. 50% may actually be quite a bit if applied across the board – merchandise sales, touring profits, etc.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/07/20/polyphonic-music.html

The keyword is joint venture. Tricky territory, too, because there’s tons of up front marketing costs (not so much production). And let’s face it, while the music biz is often evil, the artists are often flaky. Always a tough combination to make work.