Originally Posted by
mistercarter2u
I came up with the following thoughts after reading a piece on The FLO's "Supremely Yours II" project... recorded several years ago, yet [[with the exception of 4 tracks made available on iTunes last year) still unreleased.... I am also frustrated that Mary Wilson's "Clarity" / "Life's Been Good To Me" album never came out... and there are other such projects in various states of limbo.
I know putting out physical CD's is expensive, and once the CD's are created, there has to be some place and mechanism to actually sell them. In this weird day and time when so much is digital and when record stores are so few and far between, I do understand many of the problems associated with artists issuing independent album projects on CD... BUT, IT CAN AND DOES HAPPEN, and independent releases can gain a lot of traction or at least be profitable enough to pay for the recording costs and manufacturing of the discs.
I immediately think of Marie Osmond's new release, "Music Is Medicine," on her own Oliveme Record label. She put it out there, promoted the heck out of it with radio interviews, Social media posts, and autograph signings in Walmarts and such stores, and it just debuted at #10 on the Billboard Country charts! Marie Osmond does not have a major label contract, yet she has just scored her first top ten album in 41 years! It can be done!
Another example is The Explorers Club, a great Beach Boys-influenced band out of Charleston SC. They have released three albums independently, and while they are far from reaching Gold status, I am told that their records [[CD's) sell enough to be profitable. Their latest album, "Together," comes out in June, but they began pre-selling it at the start of this year, again using social media platforms and so forth.
Other artists, well past their recording primes, keep finding labels to distribute their work. Rick Springfield is a good example; he keeps putting them out there, usually on a different label each go around, yet he finds a way to release his music. Darlene Love had a major label release back before Christmas, and country star Lorrie Morgan, who hasn't released new music for years, has TWO new albums out now, each on different small labels [[Shanachie and Cleopatra).
I don't understand it: How do artists like Ronnie Spector, who has just released her "English Heart" set, and The Three Degrees, with their "Strategy" album, get product out there, but The Former Ladies of The Supremes - an off-shoot of the most successful female group EVER! - and Mary Wilson - THE original Supreme for many people! - cannot get their completed albums released.
Wouldn't it be better to get the product out there and make a few dollars on it than to sit on it and make absolutely nothing???
Why wouldn't Cherry Red or Soul Music or Funky Town Grooves or one of those wonderful labels pick up the Mary album or the FLO's album? There may be a UK label that specializes in Northern Soul that would love to get hold of one of those projects...
Is this all a matter of people failing to make the right connections? Or Is it more a lack of drive and desire to get the records out?
Money is probably the bottom line, yet it makes no sense to spend all that money recording a project, then to just let it sit unreleased...
Bookmarks