"deals", before or after recordings?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

When putting out a release, is the making noise the primary motivation, or does the act of making noise first need to have "a real reason", such as some kind of interesting offer for physical release?

For example, when a request comes from abroad offering an LP release. That can get quite a few artists excited about making music. It's not the all day everyday kind of option artists has. Nowadays an LP deal is a pretty rare occurrence! Not to mention 7".  If not recording, offer like this may make much more active in evaluating whether some already existing material is suitable.

I assume so. At least compared to a deal to make a couple dozen copies of recycled cassettes, hoping that something will stick when dubbing over the old pop music tape. Heh...

I do record things without clear idea what it will be for. But there are things from recent years, such as Grunt 7" on Self Abuse or 10" on Old Europa Cafe where starting point was definitely this: first the offer, then figuring out suitable material for it. Starting to record and so on and evaluating is it worth of such expensive format someone will spend their money.

There are so many different situations and approaches for making releases that I am quite curious how people feel about. And is there the difference of making noise without any goals to "publish" and working for something that has been offered.

I generally don't need another "label" for something I can do in a blink of an eye. Offer of any label would be good only if its something that involves doing more that I could. A larger scale for a different audience, perhaps across different continents, and so on. By label who have proven they will be around and its not some pre-orders for small run & release disappearing without leaving any mark. So for me, getting a "deal" is not important at all as I can get my stuff published and distributed in ways that I doubt there are many who could do it better. For a lot of artists, getting on label is big difference if wanting material to be heard. Simply uploading track online doesn't mean much. Countless hours of stuff is uploaded daily. Sending 10 friends link and you get 10 thumbs up, and see 2 guys have listened fraction of song, hah.. Attention of label, distributors and perhaps couple comments may be quite relevant even if sound creation would be mostly personal thing, not really driven by seeking "attention" per se.

As a label, I tend to get plenty of already finished albums to check out for potential release. I also do invite artists who have nothing ready. Just tell them than when they do, I'd like to check it out first. FA never offer guarantees. Whoever it is, if I don't like it, its not happening. Have caused some bitterness over the years when artist is excited to get something done, but then doesn't deliver on level it should be. This may also indicate perspective is lost. How good they can be, how good others are, and the passion or hunger is gone. So there are signs that material made after offers are not necessary always positive result. There may be also element of "designed to suit this label" -approach which may drive material into dull direction.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Plus perhaps label angle question too? You want to check out already created materials or invite artists for something very specific thing in mind?

[Stipsi]

For my personal point of view, I prefer after. As artist and label owner, I prefer to have all works finished (artwork, mastering,etc...) before proposing or listening for a publication.
As an artist because I'm really slow and if i have a proposal before having something ready I feel pressure.
Plus i like to have a narrative in my work, so i have to find the right plot.
As a total DIY label owner (from printing artwork to duplication of the tapes) it makes work more fluid.

[k.p.g]

From the artist point of view, anything I have a strong vision for will usually be self-released.  I know what I want and I don't think a label will really meet me halfway with it.  Vinyl would be the only exception I suppose.  But even then, I have a few labels in mind I would approach that level of material with.  Offers coming in are still rare to me, so if I like the label or trust the person's enthusiasm enough, it's pretty easy to get me enthused!

With the label, I like to approach the artist with a description of what I like from there work.  Perhaps it guides them a bit in that direction that I believe will showcase their strongest material.  If it doesn't though, we can have a discussion further about things.

[Cranial Blast]

I think it's both, a lot of times can stem from a spontaneous type of approach or creation, but can also be more methodically planned ideas for future releases. Speaking for myself, I'd say most of the time when other labels have released something other than me releasing under my own label, it's always been that I had previously created the material and the material was ready beforehand, but not always. I quite enjoy the idea of having a different label give release and put their touch on the release, perhaps that's by a way of special packaging or by some type of art approach, it's always interesting to see how another label might approach a specific release. I think it can add a lot character to ones own tapestry of work in a sense. I know sometimes like aforementioned that it can go the other way too, like it's fitting as some label collective of sorts, which could potentially be a lack luster in the grand scheme of things. I'm kind of touching on one specific part of this topic maybe, but I'd say I have a generally positive view overall on this topic.

[Cranial Blast]

Also should have mentioned on the topic and think was covered well in the post above my first post, is that we all have certain releases that we self release without exception, cause we know best the artistic view of what we envision for our own releases sometimes and don't feel like it can quite be expressed the way we have planned by anyone other than ourselves, simply cause we've got a vision for it, definitely more so true with the more premeditated types of releases. What is also interesting on the flip side of that, is when one has certain releases, but when you know certain releases could be maybe be better served artistically better under a different label or passed on to individuals who can further a certain level of creativity or touch that maybe you didn't initially have in mind, but they added to it. I think there are labels who have a certain niche for expanding a certain level of artistic creativity that's all a style of their own and be a bit more eye opening or expanding in some ways to the noise. I think a label like Wrath does a nice job at giving releases a certain level of careful considerate treatment, which can give kind of a nice texture to the overall product. This can be kind of conflicting topic for sure, but think it's kind of a yin yang result if you look at it from different ideas and perspectives.

[Vrenndel]

Making noise, or "creating a sound that isn't there in there in the first place", to quote one the best advices I heard in an interview (Agonal Lust's interview on White Centipede Noise), should of course be the primary question, along the lines of "What's the aim? What am I trying to create, transmit, demonstrate?" and so on.

In my opinion, a full-lenght release should never be a chaotic mess of sounds and images thrown in the same place for the sake of getting a lenghty amount of material that could somehow be considered as an album. There should always be an overall vision, so to speak, a strong motivation behind the material, which would then be transmitted to a label. Sometimes the material speak for itself, of course - imagery, sound, lyrics, titles, and so on - but how many times is it the case? Established names will certainly encounter less problems for that, but when it comes to new acts, I do believe that intentions should matter as much as the quality of the material submitted. Just like many others, I myself have often thought about submitting my demo material to huge labels like Freak Animal or Tesco and hoping to be taken in, but that would feel limited to a certain sake of visibility, and visibility isn't all. The material should first of all fit the likes of this or that label in the first place. If it doesn't, why even bothering yourself and the label owner by sending a recording? This said, it takes a lot of self-criticism, which often ends in so much self-criticism that nothing happens at all, and the material is discarded. Personal experience.

This said, I do also think that the best moment to approach would be in the final stages of an overall artistic recording - visuals, sounds, lyrics eventually - everything that could make the material's receiver decision easier, and even if the answer was no, would eventually allow the receiver to give some tips and suggestions - what should be done better, what was good, what was not, and so on. In the early stages of my project, when i first submitted my material, I received no answer from one label, and two good critics and suggestions from two others, which ended in an amazing collaboration with one and various qualitative exchanges with the other.