Music

DIY record label in a box can be yours for a mere $500

by Jeremy Mersereau

Usually, starting an independent record label is a labour of love. Only true music lifers are passionate enough to commit to the long hours, piles of boring paperwork, and the promise of perhaps dozens of dollars in profit (if you’re lucky).

Well, you can forget all that: Thanks to an online music company, you can now start your own label with a simple click of the mouse (and a valid credit card number) straight out of the box with no pesky, time consuming “effort” required.

Digital distributor Ditto Music is now offering a “record label in a box”, complete with everything you would need to start putting out your pals’ game-changing steampunk-klezmer tunes: Start-up paperwork, a business bank account, a contract pack, a domain name, and (here’s the real deal) a custom journal! All this bad boy will cost you is a mere $500. Only $500? For stuff that would cost much, much less than that, provided you’re willing to put in the hours? Sounds like a great deal, especially when you throw in that custom journal.

The boxed labels come in three tiers: Premium, Professional, and Enterprise. Each progressively more overpriced offering comes with a bigger and bigger swathe of add-ons. The $7,000 top-tier “Enterprise” package comes with such label essentials as a full PR campaign, 1-to-1 career building session, and a 12-month mentoring program. “Damn, my one-release a year underground techno label would really benefit from 12 months of mentoring from business guys… and it’s only 7 grand? I’d be stupid not to do this!” – a fool and his money.

Labels-in-a-box will start shipping to customers Sept. 7, and you can pre-order yours right now. What are you waiting for? If nothing else, you can re-enact that “what’s in the box?” scene from Se7en with your roommates when the package gets there. Unemployed, aspiring label mogul to his responsible banker pal: “I wish I could’ve lived like you… I tried to taste the life of a simple man… it didn’t work out.” *opens box of label paperwork*