I had a really interesting conversation with a co-worker today about the current state of the music business. He's about to sign with an indie label in Oregon after receiving offers from majors like Columbia, Warner Bros, etc.

How did they get there? And why did they turn down the big boys and go with an indie?

Well the short answer is that they kind of caught lightning in a bottle with some older recordings that had made their way onto Spotify. Like millions of plays type lightning. So naturally they started getting the band going again to start writing and playing new stuff.

One of the things I loved was that he insisted that they only wanted to sign a label that wouldn't try to remaster or remix their old recordings. The kind of lo-fi honesty of those records was what was drawing fans to them and the big labels couldn't understand that.

So what's my point? 

I don't really know actually. One thing my friend and I agreed on was that there's really just no substitute for making good music. Yeah, a good record doesn't guarantee that you'll find an audience, but a crappy record pretty much assures that you won't.

And what makes a good record? Well if you ask me (and my work buddy) it's just good songs played well. Real people playing songs together and recording that so that other people can listen to if they like it.

Seems doable.

- Adoniram