Swimming in Shit

That's how legendary producer / musician Steve Albini describes working with major labels in his essay "The Problem with Music":

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke". And he does of course.

He goes on to describe how bands get taken in by the promise of big money and then charts where it all goes.

This is Indie Rock

Deep Elm Records has an ongoing contest for bands. Submit exclusive songs to them for a chance to be on the next CD of their series "This is Indie Rock":

Created to document the music, spirit and resolve of the independent artist, each volume of This Is Indie Rock: The Best Bands You've Never Heard features twelve UNRELEASED and EXCLUSIVE songs from the hottest new indie rock bands / artists throughout the world. You'll find a diverse mixture of hardcore, punk, rock, emo, metal, pop and more. By uniting all genres of indie rock, these compilations are destined to surpass the popularity of Deep Elm's other highly acclaimed compilation series. Bands were selected to participate based on open submissions of their music. Only the music mattered. Extremely high recording quality characterizes each compilation. This Is Indie Rock has already been proven to be a springboard for several talented young bands. From Volume One, Clair De Lune (now on Deep Elm), Lakota (now on Pop Up) and The Kidcrash (now on Lujo) all signed to established labels. Volume Two band The Forecast recently joined the ranks of Victory Records. Volume Three band Free Diamonds recently joined the Deep Elm roster.

They don't say if there's any compensation for the featured bands, but I'm guessing not. It would be nice to know how many copies they've sold of previous volumes so you'd know what sort of exposure to expect for giving them exclusive tracks.

All decisions made are based upon the SONG, not the band. It's the music that matters. ONLY previously UNRELEASED songs are eligible. UNRELEASED means the song(s) submitted is currently Not Available on any medium (CD, MP3, compilation, etc.) from you, a label or anyone else. The more unreleased songs we receive, the better chance a band has of being selected.

5000 Fans Theory

This is almost a couple years old, but still valid, so here it is...
Musician Scott Andrew posted a theory that basically says if you can build 5000 hardcore fans that will spend just $20 a year each on your stuff, you will bring in $100,000 and can quit your day job:

Now, 5000 is a big number, but not that big. That's like, what, one-eighth of an average baseball stadium? And you might not even need that many. Here's an exercise: take your own salary, pre-taxes, and divide it by 20. If you were to quit your job right now and start living as a full-time musician, poet or author, that's how many fans you'd need, spending $20 each year to support your art. So, if you're making $30K yearly, you'd need 1500 paying fans each year to replace your salary. And it gets better if you're willing to take a pay cut. In Washington state, where I live, a person working for minimum wage would only need around 700 paying fans. As Hobbit sez, there are a lot of people working for minimum wage doing stuff they hate.

Of course, as the commenters on his site pointed out, if you have a band, you have to divide that between the number of members, and it doesn't take expenses into consideration, but it still seems like an attainable goal.

Musictoday

This month's Fast Company has a cover story on Musictoday, a business that provides behind-the-scenes support for merch, tickets, websites, and more:

While the big money is still in touring, Musictoday rechannels revenue streams--merchandise margins and ticket fees that traditionally padded someone else's pocket--in the talent's direction. For new or lesser-known bands, that money could mean the difference between touring and trading in that Stratocaster for a busboy tray. "Somebody you've never heard of will sell $10 million in merchandise in two years," says Jim Kingdon, executive vice president. And for megabands like Dave Matthews, which has more than 80,000 fans paying $35 a year for fan-club membership alone, the money can snowball.

"We're heading to a do-it-yourself world where artists will be taking more control of their careers," says Michael McDonald, John Mayer's manager. Or as Legend puts it: "In the not-too-distant future, this could mean you won't need a label anymore. That's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

The article implies that they work with not-yet-famous bands, but it's hard to tell from their website. There's no price listing that I could find, either. You'll have to contact them to see whether it's worth your while.
At the very least, though, you can add your tour dates to their calendar.

Daytrotter and others

Just read about Daytrotter in Wired (they're also mentioned in a Wired blog from last year). These guys bring indie rock bands into the studio and record songs to post on their website. They also have interviews, reviews, and some other stuff. One of our future featured bands, Headlights, was just featured on Daytrotter. We're shooting them Feb. 2 at The Highdive in Champaign, IL.
Daytrotter had a link to the Take Away Shows, a French site that takes bands out in the street and shoots one long shot of the band playing, then posts the videos as podcasts.

On a related note, I got an email from a guy that hosts a video podcast of indie hip-hop videos (independentmvc). We've produced a couple of rap videos, so we've thought about doing a Banddot-style rap site, but he's already doing it - also in the Midwest (Ohio), just like Daytrotter and Banddot.