Original Voices
I’m looking for great, original voices. I want to hear someone doing something different or has a unique outlook, a unique voice, someone who doesn’t sound like 30 other things. We’re looking for great songs, great songwriters.
I find great music because I’m a fan. One of the hardest parts is you can’t sign everybody you like. We’re just not able to put out that many records. Generally we only add one, maybe two, new artists per year.
Family Style
These days, anybody can release a record. But what a lot of artists are looking for is a sense of guidance, a sense of belonging, to be part of a family of like-minded artists. That’s kind of what our strength has become. We offer that.
The Signature Sound
We’re not going to put out a jazz or world music album. We learned that lesson early on. We’re better off when we know our neighborhood well. One of our strengths is our fans have a good idea that if they buy a new artist from Signature Sounds, it’s not going to be something that’s a huge departure and something they might find abrasive.
Green River Festival
The local Chamber of Commerce put on an event that was a hot air balloon rally. They wanted to have other things going on, so I booked local music and then sprinkled in national performers. Over the years, it grew more into a music festival and less a balloon festival. Hot air balloons are weather-dependent, and there’s nothing worse than a balloon fair where the balloons can’t go up.
Last year, the Chamber of Commerce decided they didn’t want to manage the event, so we took over. It’s fun to work on that level. We bring in about 30 bands from all over the country and some internationally known acts. We have a variety of stages including three big ones. It’s where we present other kinds of music that wouldn’t necessarily fit the label.
Twentieth Anniversary
We did a concert celebration over Thanksgiving weekend—three days of concerts. We brought in almost all our current artists and decided to also make an album. We’ve put out about 140 albums and almost any time an artist goes in [the studio] there are leftover songs that don’t make the album. Oftentimes, there’s not enough space on the CD or they didn’t get to finish it. So we had a lot of great leftovers and decided to put this album together. It ended up being terrific.
Surviving as a Label
Luck is definitely part of it. We never got ahead of ourselves. We never tried to grow too fast or put all our eggs into one basket. It was always a fairly steady approach.
I wouldn’t recommend starting a label right now. The way music is monetized, moving from CDs to downloads to streaming, it’s difficult to generate enough income to invest. The reason we’ve survived is we have a huge catalog of music and, while a lot of it doesn’t sell a lot, there’s so much it brings in enough money to keep the boat floating.
The record label model might not be viable anymore. We’ve morphed as a company. We do live concert production, because that’s a way we can help support what we do. I have 40 years of acquired knowledge in the business and have been able to cultivate an audience. The audience is moving more into the live arena, but the label will always be there. As long as I’m still working we’ll put out records, but it’s not what we count on to pay the bills anymore.
Build Your Career First
Nobody needs a label until they get to a certain point. You have to build a fan base and that’s increasingly hard to do. It takes creativity, you have to develop a great live show, an online presence, make music videos and interact with fans directly. The days of the major label model where all an artist did was make records, do shows and not know who their fans were, that’s all over. You have to connect directly. It’s up to you to build your relationship with your fans and your career. Nobody’s going to do it for you.
Years with Company: 20
Clients: And The Kids, Pine Hill Project, Heather Maloney, Chris Smither, Lake Street Dive, Winterpills, Eilen Jewell, Sweetback Sisters, Peter Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, Tracy Grammer, Erin McKeown, Patty Larker, Lori McKenna, Crooked Still, Salamander Crossing.
Web: signaturesounds.com
By Andy Kaufmann
