“I am dictated enough by my record company to last me a million years.” – Marvin Gaye

Great Guys Records is an independent record label conceived in 2013, with a simple mission: to help amazing bands create music without having to worry about the stress of production costs.

There is a crisis in the modern-day music industry. People don’t bother buying physical copies of music anymore. It may be convenient to hold millions of songs in your pocket through Spotify, but what can compare to the way you lit up when you saved up for your first (CD/Tape/8-Track/Record)?

There is something special about making a physical connection with a piece of music. Seeing the consideration the band put into every detail of the piece of art that is an album, setting the needle on the record and hearing it crackle and pop, reading the lyrics that accompany the music and getting lost in the soundscape. Music is not just a commodity, it is a form of art that deserves as much respect and appreciation as a painting. At Great Guys Records, we care about this connection with music and are passionate about keeping this experience alive for the future of music.

The reality is that musicians must make money to continue to bring us their music. Streaming services have cut artists like our bands short and they need to sell physical copies of music along with other merchandise to make any profit from their art.

The best way to support your favorite bands is to buy their music.

The reality is records are incredibly expensive to make. This is THOUSANDS of dollars that our bands don’t have, leaving them without the ability to record or distribute new music.

Many bands have to turn to record labels to fund their production because of these high costs. However, a record label will often hire producers, engineers and additional personnel to ‘shape’ a band and make them marketable.

And here is where Great Guys Records is different: we want to stay out of the way of the creative process of the bands and simply facilitate the production, marketing and distribution of the incredible music our artists have to offer.

We need people like you to contribute to help us support these artists.

Our goal is $6000 to help jump start these artists with their new albums. While this is only a fraction of the amount we need for our six bands, this amount will hugely assist the process.

• Recording the album: Sound engineers cost >$25/hr, and albums often take 40+ hours to record, with an additional 20+ hours for mixing and mastering. It is possible to self-record, but this often comes at the cost of sacrificing audio and production quality. We want our artists to have the best sounding package possible.

• Producing the package: For each band, 1000 CDs will cost $1200 and 200 12” vinyl records will be another $1000. Multiply this by the 6 bands we have on our roster and you have $13,200. This is already over twice what we are trying to raise.

• A marketing budget: Promotion is essential for any band that wants to push beyond their local bars and house shows. Thanks to the internet, it is possible to reach a much wider audience much faster than before, but we still need to create promotional posters, websites, and ad campaigns for all of our artists. We have driven this cost down through an extensive network of friends, but this still typically amounts to about $500 per album per band.

• Paying for our E-Distribution:  Again, the internet is a powerful tool for music these days. However, it is often expensive to utilize the resources we have at our fingertips.  In order to have our artists’ music on the apps/websites you love, we have to pay $80 a year to have our catalogue uploaded to Spotify, Google Play, Amazon, etc.  There are also countless additional fees to ensure our artists receive the royalties and rights they deserve through ASCAP/BMI and other agencies.

By investing this money in our label, you are part of a gift that keeps on giving: a band can often recoup triple what they invested in an album and use the proceeds to fund their next album.

Combined, our artists have already independently sold over 5,000 CDs, so it is obvious that their music has been popular with the audiences they’ve been able to reach and all they need is an extra push.

Great Guys Records wants to start a revolution in the way music is treated.

In 2015, we hope to release albums by ALL of the artists on our roster!

Every cent you contribute goes straight to our artists to help fund and promote their releases.

For helping our bands accomplish their goal of putting out new, exciting music, we have several reward packages put together for you so you can reap the benefits of your generous gift. We really hope you enjoy your gifts as much as we enjoy creating music for you to listen to.

Here’s the kicker: we’re not going to frown upon you if you don’t buy the special edition T-shirt, poster, vinyl, and super secret live cover of Party in the USA package – in fact, all of this music, once created, will be available on Spotify, Youtube, Google Play, Amazon, and we even encourage you to pirate, torrent, and download it to share with your friends. The music comes first, so any way you hear it is good with us!

Great Guys Records is a community, not a business. It is a community of artists, art lovers, and visionaries. We care about our musicians and their music because they are our friends; we have a strong sense of camaraderie, pride and respect for the work that we do. With that being said, the greatest risk we face is not being able to fund our artists’ music. Our bands are not right on the brink of stardom - these are bands that work hard every single day, barely making rent, begging to have their voices heard.

The challenges we face on a day-to-day basis are plentiful. How can we ensure our artists grow? What can we do to help them? Where do they need to be? How can we help them get there?  The root of these issues lies in a lack of funding.  How can we promote their album when they can't afford to print it? How can we distribute their music if they can't afford to pay their registrations?  How will people ever hear about these incredibly talented bands if they are forever lost in a sea of artists who are better funded and better promoted?  The answer is you. You can change these artists’ lives by opening this new chapter with us.  Be a Great Guy - it's time for new music for the right reasons!

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It's really easy to lend a hand in one way or another, and it goes a lot further than you may think!

And that's all there is to it.