Kimbra is one of the most successful artists to come out of the antipodes in a while. After coming to international attention with her cameo on Gotye’s mega-single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, she’s gone on to collaborate with huge names like Omar Rodríguez-López and Matt Bellamy.
But if you think the multi-talented 25-year-old has just been riding the roller coaster without paying attention to what’s going on around her, you’re sorely wrong. Speaking recently to the blog WTF Should I Do With My Life, Kimbra dropped some serious music industry knowledge.
During the interview, the singer revealed her business acumen whilst discussing where the majority of her income comes from, as well as the costs behind making an album and how to effectively use a label advance by being self-sufficient.
“These days most of the money comes from syncs and merchandise,” Kimbra told the blog. “This has become a really great way for artists to make back money invested in their records and help pay off the huge advances that are often provided up front for living costs and creation of the record.”
“Because of the decline in actual album sales, artists are having to rely on other ways to help fund their records and of course record labels are now having to find other streams of revenue to take commission from to pay back their expenses also.”
“I look at this shift as an invitation for both artists and record labels to think creatively and progressively about ways to assign value to music, people will always want to place a value on the music that touches them, it’s just about shifting the focus and finding new ways to encourage that.”
Elsewhere, Kimbra discussed the business of producing an album. “The costs of making a record vary depending on who is investing and how much faith they take on you, how much they are willing to risk,” Kimbra explained.
“Time also plays heavily into making a record, my first album took almost three and a half years to complete, although it was made almost completely without a record label.”
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“However it is a lot easier to stay within a budget when you have a home studio set up (even if it is minimal) which I have always had and continue to develop this side of what I do so as to maintain a control and not let costs blow out of proportion as they do when you are exclusively working out of expensive, famous studios.”
“I think there is much to be learnt and gained from both processes and ultimately, record companies are prepared and used to taking a loss on many artists so it is different to a student loan that has to be paid back.”
“An artist is being invested in with the hope of a return. On the flip side, when a record is successful a record company can make their investment back sometimes off just one successful tour so it is all relative and ultimately out of the artist’s hands.”
“I think the main thing is staying aware of how much money is being spent so you can allocate money to other parts of your campaign, i.e. marketing and not blow a budget on the recording of an album.”
“Fortunately it has now become so much easier for an artist to be very self-sufficient in production and able to create amazing records from the humble set up in a bedroom. I have always had a romance with this way of working and think I will always continue to.”
