New times. There was a different time, long, long ago when Neanderthal A&R men ruled the earth, when being unsigned was jilted kudos, a misfortune. 'Unsigned' was a dirty word. Not anymore. No sir. The very concept has reversed. 'Unsigned' by definition means we've signed nothing. We are free, we are without compromise and this is a neat place to be. This is our best chance to get it right, to get it as we want it to be.
Our terms to either abide by or mutate as we please. Starting at scratch, regardless of our ambition or non-ambition we have power to wield and our options are many.
So for all the industry dream, for the record deals and dealers, right now, we're too busy for that. We have an aesthetic to sharpen and a myth to make.
It begins and it ends with music. We have our music and we can record it: to tape, to dictaphone, in to Garageband, on four, eight, sixteen tracks, into our mobile phone. We have all manner of resources to document idea.
We're music led. Playing in a band, we certainly don’t know the 'right' way about this business, but we know there’s never been a more exciting time to get noticed. We are rinsing the term 'unsigned' of meaning and relevance. We know how we can make a new mark. We can set up our stall, right here. And people will come. After all we are reaching to people, real people, to bedrooms not boardrooms. In the absence of record label investment, development and bluster, we can do it ourselves.
By Kevin Hendrick