brian fantana wrote:H.O.D really don't want the fame, nor the money. This is a hobby for the guys, nothing more. They are not undercutting anyone because they are not in direct competition with anyone who sells their music for money. If people got the album and used it as a drinks coaster, H.O.D could not really give a fuck. They all have decent jobs and this is just something to do at the weekends to kick back really, if people dig it then all the better, but to be realistic, even the likes of machine head and bands of a similar level don't make a great deal of money, sure they get to travel the world and have a great time doing it, but they still go home after the tour and carry on with their engineering jobs to feed their families, thrash metal is not about being famous.

thats nice that you all have nice jobs, but some of us dont have nice jobs and nice money to make music to give it out and make tshirts from money that we have to live on, the money that we make from cds and tshirts and gigs, goes to keeping the band afloat with more gigs, tshirts and cds, it has to, we dont have the money otherwise.

thats all im saying....haha this is such an age old argument.....

Just leave it at that. Everybody can do as they wish, within reason.

BEER CAN wrote:if you just want to be famous, then yeah, undercutting everyone else and giving away all your music is a great way to go about it.

PS: that might be a bit harsh , but sorry, you wont get a pat on the back for making it even harder to survive for everyone else from me.

We made the album with the intention of giving it to our mates to play on a Saturday night before going out on the lash, with a gig or two a year as a bonus. What's happening in front of our eyes is beyond anything we ever dreamt of.

If we wanted to be famous do you honestly think we'd be called fucking Hospital Of Death? We still keep the bands kitty afloat with gig money and shirts etc, so what's the difference if we don't sell a shitty CD-R for £3/5?

You don't need to keep the band afloat if you get a job and pay for it, being a poor unemployed musician waiting for a record deal to solve all your money problems doesn't cut it in the real world anymore.

Nah, bollocks to that. If you can afford semi decent gear and afford studio time in the south then you are not exactly on skid row either, don't play the poor man here.

We were talking about this kind of thing on the way to the gig last night. Even in the glory days of metal unless you were selling millions there was very little (if any) money to be made. It's pretty obvious with the internet being what it is that the traditional role of the record company is changing, and becoming more and more obsolete (they all pretty much expect you to do their work for them anyway, they just bung you a (small) amount of money which you have to pay back anyway!).

So, anyway, I saw some thing on the telly about some dance music act ditching their label and getting a sponsorship deal from a large corporation (ie pepsi or something). They got the money to record and tour etc, and all they had to do in return was fulfill a list of promotional activities (go on telly, corp's logo on cds etc) and job was a goodun!

Obviously the scope for finding sponsorship for our type of music is not as wide ranging, but I bet there's plenty of places who would give you a few quid for putting their logo on your cd/website/stage banner and so on. The more you promote yourself the bigger the company you can snag I reckon (as long as you aren't shit.)

I think clever promotion and merch are probably the only ways to make any money here, as many potential customers will just download the music free anyway, but you can't download a t-shirt/hat.

just a thought.

haha



...why dont you let your band grow and prosper within a decent time frame, instead of trying to find some sort of fast track/fast route/short cut to recognition?.....just a thought.



haha the poor man?

haha im in it for the long haul mate, not no overnight wonder bullshit hear....coming into my 8th year of this..so you dont need to tell me, ive got a job....

anyways, i hope you get world wide recognition for lots of hard work and congrats, im going to get drunk and go and watch orange goblin....

Put it this way, I've only heard H.O.Ds album because it's free. I don't buy albums.

Why don't you read our biog and find out that we started the band in 1995, making us exist for 13 years? Just a thought....

nah i dont really care about it, i didnt say you hadnt been.

i really cant be bothered to get into such a discussion..

cool.

I dont see why this discussion even came up. Its obvious to me that HOD do what they do, for the fun of it. You really have to see them live, and you get the idea then.

HOD are a great example for many many many thrash bands out there. Actually just many bands. The internet fucked things up, but it created amazing oppertunities. HOD could snap up a decent record deal i think if they tried. But i know they wont. If you pick up things said about their next album. Its gonna be free yet again which is great.

The only reason i sell music is to try n make a tiny bit more to help with transport prices and all that, since we dont sell merch like other bands.

But yeh, everyone should take a page out of the book of HOD. Because thats the way forward with stuff i think. The enjoyment of being on stage and making people feel good, or like your music is great.

At a gig once two people lost their teeth in a mosh pit during the Covet Chaos set. That to me was awesome because somebody was enjoying themselves that much, to our music. But i did make sure to check up with them n make sure evrything was fine.

HOD!

That was smart to edit your post BEER CAN haha, wouldnt want to start some childish argument there.

..there's a lot of egos on here...dont wanna be one of them..haha

'eagle-eye' dan has spoken!

BEER CAN wrote:haha

...why dont you let your band grow and prosper within a decent time frame, instead of trying to find some sort of fast track/fast route/short cut to recognition?.....just a thought.

Putting effort into promoting your band (whether for monetary gain or not) shouldn't be dismissed as "trying to find some sort of fast track/fast route/short cut to recognition". If you just want people to pick up your band organically then you are indeed in it for the long haul whether you like it or not. As Creeping Dan says the internet changed things but also created many more avenues for self promotion (which we utilise) - how else do you intend to reach markets outside of this country without a record deal (or even with one if you have a shitty record company)?

You need to accept that times have changed and it doesn't matter how good you are if no-one hears you.

Playing this (or any) sort of music should be a hobby and nothing more at the start. All hobbies cost money (except masterbating), and if anything comes of it, then all the better, but it is foolish to think that by being in a band you are gonna make a living. I know a person who played in a big name band (who i wont mention) who jacked it in as he had a well paid job and was doing music for fun. When tours and 3 week abroad trips were on the horizon, he quit because in all reality, there was no way he was ever gonna earn anywhere near what he was earning at the day job, and even if a tour / festival payed well, how long was it likely to last????

If you want to earn serious money and make a living off music, go and play to a world class standard and become a session muso.