What is a DIY artist?  DIY stands for Do It Yourself, and it basically means the entrepreneurial artist.  The bootstrapping artist.  It’s the musician who is using a laptop and a microphone to record his or her first album, using Facebook and MySpace to promote the album, and is playing at coffee houses, bars, and music venues in order to make some tip money and hopefully sell some of those self-produced albums.

The DIY artist has things both easier and harder with the proliferation of the Internet.  Easier because for the cost of a basic MacBook ($999), a basic microphone ($200), and the cost of the instruments, an artist can put together a semi-decent, multi-track recording using Garageband, which comes loaded on the MacBook.  The artist then has access to a host of free services (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) in which to promote themselves and their album.  The harder part for the artist is distinguishing themself in this cacophony of new artists who have entered the market largely due to the lowered cost of entry.

Contrast the DIY artist with the artist of old who was discovered by a record label, was given up-front money for recording in exchange for a % of ownership in the songs (usually pretty high), paid exorbitant studio recording costs, and received widespread distribution through the label.  Touring and album sales were mostly a way to pay back the record labels for the seed money they provided.  The thought was that the label would give you better exposure and a small % of a lot was still more than 100% of nothing.

There is currently a big debate regarding the DIY artist and if they are actually making any money to sustain their craft.  What is happening is that for many of the big record companies, their influence is rapidly waning.  The big hope for the industry was that live concerts would take the place of lost album revenue.  This has happened somewhat, but now Live Nation is also having its own rough patch.  Live Nation is the major concert promoter and venue owner.  So, with the decreasing influence of album sales and live concerts, artists are having to get more creative in their approach.

Perhaps the right answer is somewhere in between the record label-sponsored artist and the DIY artist.  The artist’s skill is in writing music.  They may also be skilled in Facebook promotion, but if time on Facebook takes away from the creative process of writing, then the Facebook time has not been well spent.  The answer in the middle is to have a small team around the artist.  As with stock options in lieu of salary, perhaps the artist can surround themselves with people willing to work on commission of album & live show sales as opposed to a straight-up salary.

Artists these days would benefit from a pro in social media, booking agents skilled in particular markets, and engineers who know what they are doing in the studio.  If DIY artists can become Do It With Others artists, they have a greater chance for success than just recording albums by themselves in their basements.  The key is surrounding yourself with great people.

For the music industry, this really does come down to a discussion on different views of entrepreneurship.  One camp holds that everything must be in order before starting the business.  You must write the business plan, have a superb website, and obtain gobs of Venture Capital money in exchange for company ownership before trying to sell your product.  The other camp seeks to bootstrap their business with little starting capital so that they can keep as close to 100% ownership of their company as possible.  This camp seeks inexpensive yet innovative marketing solutions.

We at The Entrepreneur School believe in the bootstrapping method.  It doesn’t just work for starting a business, but can cross over to industries like the music industry.

Please share how you have bootstrapped your way to success in the music industry in the comment box below.