How It Works

*It's free to join right now, $25 upon official launch. Read below for complete details.

What we'll be doing is launching a record label without the support of the corporate music industry. This label will be run by 50,000 music fans like yourself who are sick of being force-fed major label garbage.

You will have a vote in virtually every decision the label makes...from the bands it signs, to the tours the bands go on, to t-shirt designs and more...you will even be choosing the label's name! (That will be the first order of business.)

For now joining is free. Once 50,000 music fans have joined this site you will get an invite to officially Launch A Label.

To participate in this historical event it will cost $25 for one year from the date the first band is signed and that will include an MP3 copy of the label's first 5 releases ($49.95 value based on iTunes costs). (Click here to learn why it'll be MP3.)

$25 x 50,000 = $1,250,000 - Where Is All Of It Going?

$1 million is going directly to signing bands. In the first year we will sign 5 bands to contracts of approximately $200,000 each. That includes advances, recording, marketing, and touring. This is not regular "indie" label money we're talking. These bands will be taken care of like they should be.

Every band we sign will have a nice chunk of cash handed directly to them in the form of an advance. The rest will go towards recording (and replicating the actual CDs), marketing, and touring.

Touring is what kills most independent acts. It's really expensive to tour (gas prices, food, hotels, etc) and with this money to back these bands they'll be in a much better place to focus on what's important: the music.

The reason many independent labels don't make it is because they don't have funding and they can't keep their doors open. Which means they can't keep releasing good music.

In addition to a staggering $1 million to sign bands, Launch A Label will have $250k for office space, staff, computers, Internet, phone lines, maintenance of the 50,000 member area, and all the other incidentals that go into running a business.

Here's the breakdown of estimated costs associated with running the record label...

Credit Card fees:
2.9% x $25 + 30 cents per transaction
2.9% of $1,250,000 (50,000 x $25) = $36,250
$0.30 per transaction x 50,000 = $15,000
$51,250 total credit card fees

2 Web servers (to run a 50,000 member site): $400/month x 12 = $4,800

Creating a stable custom member's site: ~$10,000 one time

Maintenance on the member's site: $500/month x 12 = $6,000

Creating the Label's actual Web site: ~$3,000 (there are a lot of variables with this, and it might cost much less or more depending on how involved you decide the site to be)

~$2,000/month office space x 12 = $24,000 (a lot of variables here too)

Internet/phone = $100/month x 12 = $1,200 (assuming just 1 phone line)

Office furniture (i.e. computers/computer desks/chairs/printer): $5,000 (appx $1,000 per person for a basic set up)

Legal/Accounting: ~$10,000

And, of course, tons of incidentals. We might need 4 servers. Or the maintenance might be $2,000/month. It's impossible to know without actually being at that point.

Even without incidentals we're up to $115,250 without taking into consideration one of the biggest expenses: staff. I know the almost $135,000 left sounds like a lot, but that really only covers a few employees.

To run a business well it's important to have reserve funds in case something comes up. A label can't run without the cash to keep it going and as you can see from this breakdown $250,000 doesn't go as far as you would think, but it goes far enough that we'll have a cushion.

To discuss these expenses, ask questions, and to hang out with other members check out the member's area.