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   Starting your own record label

or: Self-Distribution and Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Here is the simple way to start a record label. What you do is, you say "I am a record label" and then you release some records.

Easy, eh?

That is literally all you need to do to call yourself a label. The only costs you need incur are the ones I mentioned when I was telling you how to get your tracks on iTunes, meaning you can be a label of sorts for under £30 up-front per album.

Of course, if you want to do it properly then there's a bit more to it than that.

And it's gonna cost you.

First thing is to come up with a name, and this isn't gonna cost you anything except a whole lot of time. Damn near every name you come up with is already taken because there's thousands and thousands of other like-minded people out there who've already started up a label. For example, fancy naming your label after an icon of Britain's nascent space program? Sorry; Blue Streak Records already exists (side-note; God damn we name stuff better than the Yanks). Seen the word "nascent" in that previous sentence and liked the sound of it. Sorry; that's taken too. And so on and so on. Also, even though most record labels are known colloquially just by their first name(s), they usually append this with the word "Records" so people know what their business is. You could buck this trend, but if you're just doing it because someone else is already called "Whatever Records" then it's a crappy move on your part because people will get confused and you could well be infringing on a trademark (more on that in a bit).

So, it's gonna take some time to find an original name for your company. Something that speaks, on some level, to the people who you're trying to reach about the music you're releasing. Fierce Panda Records. Sub Pop Records. Kitsuné Music (note that, because they're French, they just had to name themselves a bit differently :) ). They've all built up names for themselves because of the type of music they release, but their names are, in an abstract kinda way, at least evocative of the type of genre they're working in.

Google is your friend when checking if your cool name is already gone. Be prepared to be disappointed.

So, let's say you've found that perfect name. Does it contain a swear, a suggestion that you're in some way incorporated (no, you're not) or chartered (again, you're not), or anything else that may be misleading or insulting? Then you're not going to be able to trademark it, which means that anyone who likes it is going to be able to rip it off and you have pretty much no way to legally fight them. OK, I'm oversimplifying here, but I'm assuming that you're not loaded and can't afford a highly paid team of solicitors to fight for your right to use the name Dog Shit Records.

A trademark is any word, name, image or logo that you use to represent yourself or your company that lets people recognise it. Actually, it can also be a sound (think the Intel "bongs"), a 3D form (McDonald's Golden Arches) or even a smell (no idea). Let's just assume that we're talking about a name for your label now though.

So, you've settled on a name, and not found anyone else online using it. Time to check if it's been trademarked. In the UK you can check the list of registered trademarks. They say that this list isn't exhaustive, so take the results with a pinch of salt. I have absolutely no idea what possible technical limitation there could be to them keeping a complete list of all trademarked company names online, so I can only assume the list isn't exhaustive so they can charge you for their expert search. This is a shitty trick on their behalf and kind of a rip-off. I'd skip it for now.

Again, assuming you're kinda broke, it's probably not worth trying to trademark your label name at this point. The UK Intellectual Property Office have a ton of advice on their website, but it costs £200 regardless of whether your application is successful or not and at best it's gonna take six months for the process to run its course. Best to wait until you've actually made some money, but it's worth the freebie search as a basic check.

So is that it? Well, no. Everyone and their dog has a domain name now. You know; a web address. www.yourlabelname.com or whatever. Unfortunately, if your label isn't trademarked yet then any old domain squatting asshole is welcome to nick your name. You need to register it. Fortunately, this is only gonna hit you for a tenner or so, depending on what you want.

Now, you have a choice. Do you go for a country specific Top Level Domain (TLD) like .co.uk or a more general one like .net or .com? The .co.uk ones can be had for around £2.50 per year and are certainly worth considering, but if you're serious then most companies and organisations go for a .com because it's simply the most recognisable TLD. If you're primarily selling online then it makes sense to have a global name, rather than one that's specific to a country.

Also, good news, you don't even need to have a website yet. Google "register domain name forwarding" and you'll get a list of places that'll register your domain and even let you send emails to and from it (crucial if you want to appear professional) and all this can be had for around £8. If at a later date you want to point the domain at a website then that's no problem either. When I searched this was the first place that came up. Looks OK I guess, but shop around and see what you think. Alternatively, you might want to actually set up a site. Best to go with hosts who can hold your hand if you're not willing to spend hours and hours on admin. I've been with 1 & 1 since 2002 and I've found them incredibly reliable, professional and helpful. They've got a ton of packages, and even the most basic (and cheapest) option is pretty good - if you select their Beginner package then you get pages hosted and their very easy-to-use website builder, along with email and other stuff for (at time of writing) under £2.50 per month. That's the price of a pint. They'll also do you a fair deal on domain registration. You can have a fairly pro-looking site up and running on the cheap and with a working domain name within 24 hours (or less) with them, without really needing any technical skill.

You've just gotta figure out what to put up there.

Lastly, I had problems with a previous host, Active ISP (they cancelled my account by accident and I lost traffic for a month entirely due to their idiotic clerical error, and they still charged me for hosting the whole time the site was down), and I believe they're now called Active 24. You want my advice? Steer well clear of them.

So, to summarise:

1. Find a name that's not in use and check it's not been registered as a domain or a trademark.
   
   
2. Register the domain as a .com
   
   
3. Tell everyone this is your new record label and stick your label name and URL all over any artwork or notes for anything you release.
   
   
4. If you make any money then think about registering the trademark too (and maybe a .net and .co.uk TLD while you're at it just in case).
   
   
5. Pat yourself on the back; you're now a record label.

Oh, and don't forget to pay tax, as I said in a previous article! Coming in a future article; how to do a physical (CD/vinyl) release.

Seej 500

Yorkshire, UK, 12/4/2008

This article was written by Seej 500 and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales License.

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