Local band Scarlett O’Hara recognized the benefit of having a record label, even though the band had a fair amount of success on its own in the Valley.

In 2008, the post-hardcore band recorded an EP and began to build a fan base locally and through MySpace. One year later, Rise Records, a record label based in Oregon, offered the band a deal.

Bass player Andrew Mena said the band took its time looking over the contract with lawyers to make certain the deal would be a good one. Mena said they’re glad they chose Rise.

Upon signing, Rise offered the band members an advance, that is, money to help the band members get started with recording an album and touring needs. Rise was able to recoup that money fairly quickly off of record sales, Mena said. And when the band needed to buy a new van for touring, Rise stepped up to take care of it.

“I’m really glad we went with Rise and nothing smaller than Rise,” Mena said.

Scarlett O’Hara is one of the lucky bands.

Record labels no longer pay Artist and Repertoire (A&R) representatives to scout for potential stars in smoky bars. Now

those people sit at desks and click their way through viral videos on YouTube and tunes on band’s websites.

Robin Zaremski, formerly a record industry professional, spoke with Festiva about how talent is scouted now.

Discovering stars now is more about searching through the blogosphere to find out who’s talking about whom, she said.

Zaremski is now a teacher of music business at Albright College in Reading, Pa. Last year, during a field trip with her students to Sony Music Entertainment and Atlantic Records, she learned that the hits on a band’s Facebook page aren’t going to cut it for industry executives.

“The staff was not looking at how many ‘hits’ an artist’s website or Facebook page received, a number which can easily be artificially inflated — but were focusing in on what music people are finding interesting enough to actually talking about,” she said.

The role of a record label started changing when consumers stopped handing over gross sums of money for CDs in the 1990s, and began swapping music for free in digital formats through file-sharing programs, such as Napster.

According to Nielsen SoundScan data, in 2010, album sales dropped 12.8 percent, from 373.9 million in 2009 to 326.2 million. Compare that to the approximately 650 million sales in 2002 and it’s easy to see why the industry is panicking.

During the ‘90s, the heyday of the CD, record companies were making big bucks — after paying artist and publishing royalties, generally the labels would be making about 60 percent off of each album, or $9 off of each $15 album sold.

Without the profit from those CDs, labels weren’t pulling in the same profits from yesteryear.

There were headline-making lawsuits against those freely distributing music, those pirating, or downloading music for free, and finally when the dust settled, labels, artists and studios picked up the pieces and began rebuilding the industry in a brave new digital world.

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HOW IT WAS

Roy Treviño got serious about playing guitar 20 years ago.

The local musician played with a few little bands here and there but it wasn’t until a fateful night at a bar in Monterrey, Mexico that Treviño started his professional career.

“They were playing at this place called JT’s,” he said. “I was there with a friend … and he just blurted out, ‘My friend can play! Let him play!’”

A bit of goading got Treviño up on stage and he rocked it out with the blues band Sons of the Rising Sun. The band offered him a position soon thereafter.

Treviño took his career even more seriously and traveled to Connecticut to study with famous blues guitarist Ronnie Earl. He spent some time in New York, played with Esteban Jordan, the “Jimi Hendrix” of the accordion and he has been the guitarist for blues band Kingpin for the past 12 years.

While Treviño did get a recording contract offer once, he said he had to turn it down because the label wanted to change too much, including his sound, style and genre.

Once upon a time, record labels would find an artist who had that je ne sais quoi, that special something, and gamble on the young singer’s talent and potential, signing them to a record deal, which is a bit like a glorified loan — the artist would receive a large sum of money, which would be paid back over time.

Between stylists, image consultants and vocal coaches, the singer would go through artist development.

Songs for the artist would be chosen, an award-winning producer would be hired and in a $1,000-per-hour studio with millions of dollars worth of shiny equipment, an album would be made.

“Any record back then was $100,000 or so,” said Roy Treviño, a veteran musician and owner of San Jose Studio who has been in the business for 20 years.

Artists didn’t need to bother with learning the legalities of copyrights, royalties or who gets paid and by whom — it was all taken care of by the label and lawyers.

“Back then (you) would get yourself to a point where you’re very attractive to a major label and then they’d sign you up and do everything,” Treviño said. “So that’s what everybody was trying to do — get signed.”

Marketing money would be spent to get the artist’s name, single and image to the masses. Radio play would be constant and soon, if all went well, the singer would have a hit.

Sometimes this method would establish a superstar; other times music careers would be dead a week after the song’s debut on the Top 40 station.

And when it was all said and done, the artist was responsible for paying all that money back to the label that went into his/her creation.

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HOW IT IS

After music industry executives pulled out of their state of denial, they began to see the money-making potential of a consumer driven by instant gratification who finds the music they want on their computers, laptops or phones.

Music heard on television shows like “American Idol” and “Glee” can be purchased immediately after the episodes air.

YouTube serves up millions upon millions of videos of Average Joes and Jills performing stunts, singing covers or originals and trying to get famous. Very rarely does this pan out and create a superstar. The exceptions to the rule include people like Justin Bieber and, maybe, Rebecca Black.

“Yes, a lot of people make their own ways to make it through the industry, like YouTube,” said Angel Rodriguez, of local label Sunfish Records. “However, how many YouTube stars can you think of compared to the millions of people who aren’t?”

Artists, such as Treviño, who have been savvy enough to realize the need for the change have educated themselves on all of the details the record labels used to take care of that artists can conceivably handle themselves, such as copyright laws, how to promote themselves and getting the music to the public.

Treviño grew up in a household of attorneys, so he knew how to protect the rights to his songs (like the poor man’s version: mail a copy of the song to yourself and don’t open it, he said) but he learned over the years how to network and get his name known.

“Self-promotion, that’s something that independent musicians have had to really get great at to survive,” Treviño said. “And that’s something that, yeah, when I first started, I didn’t know anything about that.”

Now major record labels are playing a smaller role in the development of the artist and album. The function of a label is to up the ante for an artist.

“The need for that label has lessened but it is more difficult for artists to promote, advertise and create that demand for an artist,” said Charlie Vela, a local producer and studio owner. “A label can do that in a way that is very difficult for an artist to do on their own.”

Major record labels are still gatekeepers, Treviño said.

“It still takes big marketing money to make a big impact,” he said.

Though some bands aren’t relying on major labels to reach success, there are some, like Codigo, a Christian rock band from Brownsville that do see their usefulness.

“I think it helps because a record label is more established than a natural band because it has more sources,” said Jonathon Lopez, singer for Codigo. “There are bands however that have made it on their own and the internet has helped out a lot.”

Armed with more knowledge than before, musicians can make more money than with the outdated music business model. They can retain the rights to their songs, there’s less overhead and more profit in the end.

“The music business is completely changing and the people who are surviving are finding ways to make multiple revenue streams,” Treviño said.

An independent touring band can make a decent living through gigs, sales of albums and merchandise. But a band signed with a well-known label can get the bigger tours, better promotion and a pay advance to help finance their needs.

However, record labels are more cautious about signing a deal with an artist, even if that person or group has experience. And there’s less money to sink into an album and promotion than before.

Often labels are going to search for a new artist who fits well with the label’s current roster. If a label’s line up of bands and singers are similar the label will then push the unknown voices and faces to fans of an already well-known artist on the label.

If labels can gain a fan base, it’s a bit like job security. The fans will trust the label to sign artists they know the consumers will like.

For example, if you like the band Woe, Is Me, you might be a fan of local band Scarlett O’Hara. Both bands are signed to Rise Records, and they have toured together.

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HOW IT MAY BE

Music bends and changes with the times, as well as the format in which consumers hear or purchase that music. We’ve traded vinyl in for cassette tapes and CDs in for digital tracks.

The future of record labels relies, in part, on the labels’ willingness to also bend and change.

“Big labels are these giant bureaucracies and it’s hard for this giant King Kong to turn on a dime,” Treviño said. “It’s changing drastically. I think that’s a chance for talented little guys.”

In a 2008 CNN article, music industry consultant Bob Lefsetz said the record labels will have to face a serious decline if they do not come up with a new business model.

Alex Duran, the program director and on-air personality for local radio station 107.9 Mix FM, said the purpose of some of the free concerts the station occasionally holds is to help record labels expose the new musicians featured.

“Hispanic markets are the markets that are selling CDs,” Duran said. “Everybody else is pretty much selling music on the Internet.”

While all of the artists who performed at the station’s MixFest 2011 were signed to record labels, such as Emii and Iyaz, Duran said he believes labels may be a thing of the past for upcoming artists.

“I think what you’re going to see is more and more people are going to leave record labels and just sign with management companies,” he said. “Because that’s pretty much where it’s going.”

Labels (and studios) are likely to always exist, according to Treviño.

“To me, I liken it to ‘will restaurants ever be obsolete because homes have kitchens in them?’ No. Some people like to leave it to the experts,” he said.

Budding musicians are recording themselves on laptops in their bedrooms, using plug-ins to tweak the sound of a keyboard to make it more like a piano. And the quality is good enough for the fans to buy an EP or download a song from iTunes.

“A major label is not necessarily the answer to anything. A lot of artists can do really well and be happy if they were working independently,” Vela said.

San Antonio-based pop band So Sweet the Hour has experienced a bit of success after two years in the business and still remains unsigned.

“In a way, we’re kind of signed to some sort of promotion indie label, but they in no way fund us or help us do things,” said Matt Zavala, guitarist for So Sweet the Hour.

Undergrad Records is made up of one college student who spent his last financial aid check to launch a record label. So Sweet the Hour was his first signed band but all he does is promote the band through his YouTube channel.

The band, for the most part, takes care of promotion itself, and Zavala said he has seen exponential growth since the band started.

In 2010, the band self-published the full-length album “A Better Way to Say Okay” and found a distribution company to get the album onto iTunes.

Selling music digitally works well for the band — Zavala said between iTunes and the distribution company, the band gets to keep about 70 percent of sales.

So Sweet the Hour will be kicking off an East Coast tour tomorrow at The White Rabbit in San Antonio, and Zavala, 16, booked all the shows himself, including one at New York City’s The Hit Factory, he said.

When the band members talk about their goals, whether they’ll sign with a label is a popular topic.

“We have conversations about that all the time,” Zavala said. “Are we really doing this to get signed or are we doing this to do it ourselves and really benefit that way? The thing is, I’m not really sure what we want. If we got a record deal this early, we would all say yes just because we’re all so young and doing it ourselves is a lot harder.”

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Studios: Necessity or luxury?

Home recording hardware and software has increasingly improved over the past 10 to 15 years, leaving some professional studios barren.

There’s less money being invested in artists, so albums are often being self-produced.

“There are some super-talented kids who do some amazing things in their garage,” Treviño said. “But there’s certain things you can’t get anywhere else.”

There are those artists who can hear the difference between an amateur and professional job, and they won’t sacrifice experience for cost savings.

“(A studio) helps because you’re free to work at your own pace and develop albums on a more professional level,” Lopez said.

Treviño admits studios aren’t as necessary for artists as they once were, but his preference is clear.

“I like excellence in quality,” Treviño said. “You can get to San Antonio on a skateboard but it’s much better in a Bentley.”

The advances in technology have allowed for adept computer users to create an impressive imitation via software.

“You can use plug-ins to mimic the sound but there’s no substitution for an acoustic room, the sound of a Steinway grand piano, vintage guitars, amplifiers and $10,000 microphones,” Treviño said.

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Gagaville

Social media, such as websites MySpace and Facebook, have been invaluable tools for artists — new and established, alike.

So when Lady Gaga teamed up with Zynga, the makers of games like “Farmville” and “Cityville,” it made sense. Right?

The pop sensation tapped into more than 135 million fans of those games to offer an opportunity to hear tracks from her latest album “Born This Way” before the release in May.

When Gaga’s album was released, she partnered with Amazon for a special promotion for “Born This Way.” Fans were able to purchase the full-length digital album for only $0.99. The huge demand created a huge burden on the online giant’s server, which made for some unhappy customers.

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The future of superstars?

In 2007, a Japanese pop superstar was born.

Hatsune Miku isn’t your average carbon-based pop princess — she’s a virtual character made up of long blue pigtails, a synthesized voice and anime-style good looks.

The singer is the creation of Crypton Future Media and she’s already gone on tour with a live band in Japan, as a 3-D hologram on stage.

Voices of real people are recorded and then run through Yamaha’s Vocaloid software to give avatar Miku her distinct sound and perfect pitch.

Miku will be making her U.S. debut July 1, through July 4, at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

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Going it alone

Breaking into the music business alone can be a difficult task but some indie artists have managed to do it successfully. And those who already have a strong fan base chose to not renew contracts with record labels, preferring to go it alone.

• Cake
• Madonna
• Nine Inch Nails
• Paul McCartney
• Radiohead
• Oasis

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Major labels

• Sony Music Entertainment
• EMI Group
• Warner Music Group
• Universal Music Group

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Timeline

• 1877 – Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
• 1889 – Columbia Records signs some of the first artists to recording contracts, including John Philip Sousa and the United States Marine Band.
• 1900 – Mass production of discs and cylinders take off, and record sales skyrocket.
• 1920s – Radio becomes a competitor for pre-recorded music.
• 1930s – The Great Depression strikes, killing off record sales. Frequency-modulated (FM) radio is introduced.
• 1940s – Vinyl records become the standard because of the material’s durability.
• 1960s – The battle begins between 4-track tapes and 8-track tape cartridges … the 8-track wins.
• 1970s – Record executives attempt to persuade Congress to tax blank cassette tapes to recoup losses associated with bootlegging. The request is ignored.
• 1979 – The Sony Walkman is introduced. Cassette tape sales increase and vinyl sales take a sharp nose dive.
• 1980s – Compact discs (CDs) vie to become the new standard in recorded music.
• 1990s – Digital music makes its appearance in the compressed format of MP3s. Internet users swap music for free online.
• 1995 – Streaming audio is introduced by RealAudio.
• 1997 – Duran Duran (Capitol Records) released their single “Electric Barbarella” online (from the album “Medazzaland”), making it the first song available for digital purchase and download on the Internet.
• 1997 – The Artist Formerly Known as Prince becomes the first major artist to release a full album, “Crystal Ball,” on the Internet.
• 1998 – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to sue several individuals for sharing copyrighted music files illegally.
• 2000 – Metallica and Dr. Dre sue Napster, the file-sharing program which uses a shared server, for illegal di. In 2001, Napster shuts down and is required to pay a total of $36 million.
• 2003 – Apple starts up the digital media giant iTunes as a legal method of distributing music online.
• 2007 – Radiohead releases the album “In Rainbows” independently of a record label, and allowed fans to choose their price for the digital album. The album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
• 2010 – Vinyl makes a strong return in the market of recorded music. Nielsen SoundScan reports 2.8 million records sold.
• 2011 – According to eMarketer, the North American music industry’s profits are up more than $3 billion from five years ago, at $26.5 billion.

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