Christopher BJ Smith wrote:
[snip]
So is there any advantage for a self-promoter like me to go with these guys? The only reason I can think of is perhaps a real label carrying my music looks better to the schools I might be asking for employment. Or maybe university hiring committees know what a vanity label is, and I will look like more of a dork than if I produced and distributed myself, albeit in tiny quantities?
University hiring committees are not stupid (no matter how that might appear from some hiring/firing decisions) and they know what vanity recordings are. What they think about people who use them, though, is anybody's guess -- they might think you are an energetic go-getter who went that route as a stepping stone to get your music heard by more people or they might just think you're an egotistical fool who will waste good money simply to get your music recorded. You can't second guess them, so make your decision on other points.
If you want your music to look good on CD, record it yourself (less expensive and you get to keep ALL the royalties), have it printed by a commercial printing house with a printed label on the CD (not a stick-on label) and commercial quality liner notes.
Do a terrific, professional-quality job on the printing of the CD and your intended audience will be just as impressed as if you have vanity-press recordings, and you'll have more control over your image if you do it yourself.
I know a composer who used one of these groups and it has ended up in court because they shortchanged him in contracted rehearsal time with an eastern European orchestra and allowed him no input in the tempos used so he was very upset with the final product. He told me how much he had spent and I realized he had more money than brains, but he at least had enough brains (and enough money left) to hire a conductor on his own and to contract with the same orchestra and to have the music recorded properly.
Do it yourself or not at all, in my opinion.
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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