I GOT SIGNED (And Dropped) By A Major Label: What I'd Do Differently

So.... It's true! I was signed to a major label, and dropped within the space of 6 months. This is my story and how it helps you with your career today - as there are many things I did wrong, and thankfully, you can avoid what I did!

-------

Serious? Let’s go.

THE INFO:
📲 Instagram: @damiankeyes1
📲 TikTok: @damiankeyes

ESSENTIAL VIDEOS TO RELEASE YOUR MUSIC:

📚 MY BOOKS:

👇 ABOUT ME:
Hey! I'm Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is deeply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.

When I was 18, I was signed to a major label (dropped 6 months later) and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!

I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my YouTube channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, YouTube channel and I work directly with labels internationally alongside owning a live agency and management company.

It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!

[wildeocean]

Am I the only one that wants to hear the single that reached No. 77 on the charts 😶.

[HowardCharlesUK]

I've seen plenty of 'I got signed!' videos, but I don't see too many 'I got dropped!' videos 😂

[riccardostopazzola]

Deal or no deal, if you're sitting on your career waiting for stuff to happen, stuff doesn't happen.

[DiamondLifer]

This happened to my old band. Except we wanted to split from the label. It was a mutual because we felt we were being mismanaged and our album hadn’t been released yet. It had a lot of buzz with fans and the genre and we knew what we were capable of because we had a huge fan base before signing. I negotiated the buying of our masters thus returning 100% of the publishing to the band. I went and shopped a licensing deal to a competitor label who we’d talked to previously. We came to terms. Released the album, it did fantastic and we made money. We went on about our career successfully until we disbanded a couple years later. Later getting back together for a couple special dates every once in a while. Every time I’d see the reps, president or owners from the first label at festivals or shows they always greet me with the “smartest kid in metal” (I wasn’t a kid. I was in my early twenties) there were no hard feelings since the split was mutual and an agreement was reached that we were all happy with. A rep later told me long after my band disbanded that we would get brought up often at multiple labels where he worked when the subject of possibly prematurely splitting (dropping) an artist would come up. We were known as a success story in regards to knowing our potential even when a majorish label did not and reaching that potential by simply not stopping and staying the course we had set before the labels came knocking.

The point is focus on the music. If you’re getting offers from labels definitely capitalize on those opportunities but do so in the smartest way possible but make sure your band or music keeps moving forward. Don’t let a label slow you down.

[sanosketheboss]

Mother's are always the number one fan 😁

[yourbandisabusiness]

The thing that scares me most about an opportunity like that is losing control of my music or having recordings parked. I could deal with any amount of failure but being prevented from releasing songs would be the worst possible situation.

[travisstoneham]

Personally, I don't think I would ever sign with a major label or any label of any kind. I would rather stay Indie and build my career myself and retain control over it all. If things start to get difficult to manage you can always hire employees, but that's just me.

[effisummerscreative]

I love hearing insights like this, so interesting. Agree that no one would turn down a major haha. Even if you don’t get the mega success, it’s got to be such a great experience and learning curve. Plus you’d increase your network to the max!

[thesuncollective]

I created a streaming service in 00s. We had a bout 30 indie bands, 2 of them got signed to majors..saw their vid on MTV then they disapeared . Better to do it on your own...at least you have an option nowadays

[MEKUSIUMUSIC]

This video was so timely! My friend and I are making music while studying full-time and we have been extremely loving every single minute of it! We recently got approached by a renowned distributor wanting to work with us but their terms were far from good and the person's attitude was pretty lousy to say the least. Thanks for validating our decision to say no and continue making and enjoying music on our own terms!

[MATZ]

dude thanks for that. you've touched on points that no one touches.
I feel like some artists that succeed in a label are in the mindset of not learning and then when the label doesn't drop them and they feel like they are worth more than 50% or whatever, they feel betrayed... which is weird in some cases. it's just how the business works

[Thejammindodgersfan]

This is probably one of the realest videos I've ever seen from you! I've had a few experiences with majors now, put out a few through Sony about 2 years ago, and it was the craziest experience ever! Even though I'm not with them now, I still push stuff through them and am in the midst of some other cool bits with them. I feel I now have the best of both worlds with my new label deal - they distribute via Universal, so still have the pedigree/radio connections/money/spotify leverage to help make tunes a hit, whilst also keeping on that indie level in terms of how much they're putting out a week, so can definitely make sure the music is a priority. Your experience even though was a few years back now, is SPOT ON, and very true - most audiences only see the hits from majors, and not the hundreds of artists that really struggle with the exact same deal!

[junnunaumanen]

Currently signed to a major label, also running my own label on the side, and of course got a lot of past releases on a myriad of labels both absolutely huge and small - This video here is the God’s honest truth. Couldn’t have put it better myself! Damo, u the man 🤘🏼

[lost_valley]

40k new tracks on spotify per day, wow. I knew music industry was competitive but this is ridiculous

[dylanking]

Man this was a great video. I'm just an engineer so it's not really my realm but I used to think that getting signed was not really beneficial because of how predatory the majors are and how they'll just drop most of the people they sign. What you've made me realize is that just as they're trying to take advantage of artists (mostly), an artist who gets signed should have the mindset of 'what can i get out of this?' and definitely not assume it's a free ride from there on out. I've seen a couple people get signed by majors and never heard about them again. Great video.

[BenCaesar]

Great story! Alot of people bash labels, you never really hear the labels side. I appreciate this video because it gives more scope to that. Big Sean's story is similar he got signed to Kanyes label and they shelved him for months! Instead of waiting he dropped mixtapes and got hot from those. By the time his album came out he had a buzz. He didn't wait for permission. He ran with it. From what I've seen with friends who have been signed - People think when they signed they made, but that's actually when the real work starts 🏃🏾‍♂️

[mahnoorpirzada]

omg, I'm in an almost IDENTICAL situation to the one you described. we got take in by a huge company, and made the mistake of assuming everything would be done. Same outcome - flakier replies, delays, etc, and now in the position of having a wake up call and starting to take control of everything. thanks for this :)

[thegeneration]

Very informative Video Damo! I can relate and got signed to a major as well, some years back. I promise to keep this as brief as possible, in hopes of not boring everyone to death. haha. AND WE'RE OFF! :) I was a guitarist/songwriter in a rock band out of Chicago, IL. We spent years, writing, recording, shopping management, playing anywhere and everywhere that would have us. We loved the process, loved the grind, and were honestly working our asses off to build something in a serious way. We all had previous experience from being involved with management, booking agencies, independent labels etc. But none of us had been signed to a major in our other bands. And I now see, that from the beginning of that project, it was definitely our collective eventual goal. We started getting response, recording and selling albums and merch. Touring and opening for quite a few major label acts, networking our asses off, and started gaining a consistent following. We ended up being able to sell out some large venues after a few years, anywhere from 150-1000 capacity venues within 3 or 4 states of our home base. We signed with management, and really were quite happy and extremely excited with the momentum. Around a year or so later, ended up getting a deal with Island Records. We went in head first. This is what we wanted, and knew we had to say yes! Went to Nashville to record the album with a really excellent engineer and producer. Got the album done. Waited, waited, and waited some more. Called and called, and finally got a response around 6 months later after finishing the album. Management said we were shelved, but still under contract, and we obviously didn't own the rights to that particular recording. So we invested in hiring an experienced lawyer to get out of our contract. Took almost a year, but we got out of it. It did cost us, but we all knew it was in our best interest. We had gained momentum, gotten efficient at writing/ recording/ touring. And made some contacts in the process. Not many, but a few that were very good to us, and kind enough to help in the future. We ended up saving for a year, and went to record at Butch Vigs' studio in Madison Wisconsin. Wonderful studio. And great crew there. We ended up with what is still today our best album. It was all an amazing experience! :) That's not to say there wasn't a lot of hard times along the way, and feeling shaken from getting dropped by a major that soon. Knowing no one would ever hear the album recorded Nashville, including us. But we moved on, and enjoyed 3 or so years more of touring, songwriting, and honing our skills the best we knew how. Unfortunately the band parted ways, but we all learned something from getting signed to a major. We did a reunion show in Chicago a few years ago. Was just like old times, and I could see in everyone's eyes, that we all remembered why we started playing music. We ate, drank, and slept that shit. And I think every one of us would do it all again. Good vibes your way...

[TheGuizmo]

it happened to a friend buddy. 5O k in advance, huge studio recording, amazing big tour, blablabla... and got dropped like shit ! he's going to court now, to have his song right back

[DJCroGs]

Best advice of the year in entire music industry mate! "Squeeze that lemon!" Always enjoying watching your stuff Damian!