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Over 25 years ago, Alan Cohen formed his own independent label, ACM Records. Working together with his wife and partner, Eve Adams, it has since become a staple in the industry, featuring some of the world's best Indie Artists with music in almost all genres.
In December, 2009, Mr. Cohen spoke with IAR students about what it takes to start and maintain an independent label in a digital age. In an interactive forum, Alan engaged his audience by asking what they knew about independent labels. He stated that unlike many years ago, artists are now either releasing their own records or starting their own labels. He continued by providing a brief history of record labels, focusing on the four major music groups: Sony, Warner Music Group (WMG), Universal, and EMI. These groups are the main distributors for many major and Indie labels. Mr. Cohen discussed what a label seeks to accomplish to deliver a successful product, touching on publishing, trademarks, and 360 Deals. Since labels are not making as much money just selling records, CDs or downloads, they developed what is called a “360 Deal”. that, Alan explained, is a new arrangement where the label gets a percent of everything the artist does, i.e. publishing, clothing line, perfume, acting. There are some Pros and Cons for the artist. Pros: with the right backing from the label, more opportunities can be developed that the artist would not normally be exposed to. Cons: the label has too much interest in the artist, and the artist is locked into the label on everything he does. “Currently at WMG, approximately 50% of their artists are signed to 360 Deals”, Alan added He went on to go into detail about label structure, involving functional areas such as A&R, Marketing, Promotion, Website design, and several others, and stressing the importance of staying active in public forums such as MySpace and Facebook. “You must stay current with the music trends and be versatile and flexible to stay in business. You must be able to adapt and change your business structure every 6 months to a year as the industry changes.” Alan emphasized that by eliminating the enormous marketing and manufacturing costs that traditional major labels faced, the digital age allows anyone to start his or her own label. His advice: “Spend as little as possible to get the most you can. Money makes money but overspending can put you out of business very fast.”
Mr. Cohen’s prominent position in the music industry is a major achievement in a business dominated by the major labels. At times, he received little or no credit for the music he wrote for others, hoping it would benefit him someday. As he stated, “Sometimes you’ve got to give up something to get somewhere.” Alan’s efforts have indeed paid off over time, as he has managed to build his label working with some of the top names in the industry: CBS/Paramount, Miramax, Roc-A-Fella, MTV, E! Entertainment, the NBA, NFL, Verizon, and many others. Alan still enjoys his first love, music, and has played guitar for over 2 dozen Broadway shows and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s Bo Diddley, to name a few. His motto is “Don’t forget why you got into music in the first place”.
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