NovemberStar Music was founded in 1999 by George J. Little, Attorney from Northwest Florida as a result of defending music fans being sued by the RIAA for illegal distribution. Many did not realize they were doing anything wrong, but just following the available trends in technology, utilizing the services of well-known sites. It was apparent then that new means of music promotion and distribution were needed as the old ways were not working well for anyone anymore. Artists and their fans both were getting screwed by the Big Labels and their association, the RIAA.
We have always respected the artists and been mindful of their need to be paid for their music, but we had some issues with the big labels. Traditionally, music lovers have discovered new music by listening to the radio, seeing it performed on television, at concerts and in bars. For music to be brought to the public’s attention, the artist had to be offered a recording contract with one of the big recording labels. The big recording companies would then entice the radio stations to play the music and sponsor tours for the artist to take the music around the country or the world. Problem was, the recording companies got the lion’s share of the profits from the music. The typical recording contract does not provide any profit for the artists (beyond the initial advance) unless hundreds of thousands of recordings are sold. That only happens for the very fortunate few. Janis Ian has said, ” . . . [I]n 37 years as a recording artist, I’ve created 25+ albums for major labels, and I’ve never once received a royalty check that didn’t show I owed them money. So I make the bulk of my living from live touring, playing for 80-1500 people a night, doing my own show.”
Today, good quality recording equipment is affordable to even the smaller independent studios. Once recorded, music can be effectively promoted independently by the artist or small Indie labels through the Interent. The music can also, of course, be efficiently and fairly sold digitally over the Internet.
Many changes and much advancement in the right direction have been made since 1999, but there is more to be done. We are here to help you with that process. If you are an independent artist starting out, let us know what we can do for you!