The music industry is highly competitive. Those who have talent can get overlooked.
Jacob Hoffman, founder of Basement Bars Records, says he can change that.
Basement Bars is a small Normal-based music label dedicated to finding underground artists and helping them cultivate their craft. It’s also a registered student organization based at Illinois State University, where Hoffman is a junior majoring in arts technology.
“Bigger record labels go for the people that have plays, whether they're good or not,” Hoffman said. “I look at them (artists) before they even put music out.”
After attending music festivals like Lollapalooza and Rolling Loud as a teenager, Hoffman became fascinated with the idea of creating his own music.
“I wanted to make a record label that would bring in underground artists and build their talent to get them to the top,” he said.
Deciding on a name, Hoffman wanted it to have a meaning.
“We started making music in my basement, and bars are four lines in a verse, so that’s how we got Basement Bars,” he said.
The label officially launched in January. (It’s actually two companies. “We are a record label and an entertainment company, and the entertainment company is the parent company of the record label. So eventually we just want to be as big as anybody else. Like Roc Nation.”)
In its first year, the label already has three producers, two singers/rappers, and one DJ.
One of the label’s artists, Justin Edwards, also known as Jay Nebo, said he’s seen dramatic growth in his craft since joining the company.
“The opportunities I’ve gotten are amazing. I didn't have any show experience before but then he (Jacob) let me perform at a show and it was the biggest milestone I’ve had in music so far,” Edwards said.
Musicians are signed to a so-called 360 artist contract. Those allow a record label to receive a percentage of the earnings from all of an artist’s activities.
“The 360 artists contract covers everything. Management, studio time, merchandise, music videos, and promotion. But it’s really about what they (the artists) want,” Hoffman said.
“After we sign them we say OK, what is your No. 1 priority? Most of them will say, ‘I want to get in the studio,’ so I send the producer and my A&R reps with them, and that's pretty much where we start every time.”
The label’s ties to ISU have also been helpful. It’s a registered student organization (RSO).
“I haven’t actually had a lot of artists join the RSO, it’s more students who want to work in the business, which is good for us,” Hoffman said. “Basically they’ll find the RSO, email us and depending on what they want to do, I'll have them come to one of our meetings on Monday nights, we’ll talk about the industry, and go from there.”
Local Music Scene
When it comes to gaining exposure for different genres of music, Hoffman said the Bloomington-Normal scene can be a hit or miss.
“It's a very odd city because it's big, but at the same time it's not. What I've realized (with) the rap scene is that there's a lot of artists here, but the fans do not like rap, the venues do not like rap, and it is very hard to start having rap shows here if nobody wants to see rap,” he said.
But he’s not giving up on rap.
“I've noticed that alternative rock is kind of popular here, but EDM (electronic dance music) is the most popular. My partners have gotten close to selling out shows at the Castle Theatre that were EDM, but what I want to do is start getting the rap scene popular because there are two colleges here and I know there are people who like rap.”
Hoffman said the current model for music distribution actually helps artists.
“There's this one website we use called DistroKid and when you load your music on there, it goes on almost every single platform (including) major ones like Spotify, Apple, Google Play, and YouTube, so I think it's really helpful,” he said.
Making money as an artist through platforms like SoundCloud can be difficult.
“I don't think any artists gets paid enough for SoundCloud. It’s just a little too expensive and we only get about 7 cents per play,” he said. “We make money off of shows obviously, but the thing that makes the most money is when we publish a song.
“If we publish a song, it blows up, and somebody wants to use it in a commercial, that's good news for us because they're going to have to pay us between $10,000 or $10 million to use the song as an advertiser, even if it’s just for 30 seconds,” he added.
In the future, Hoffman sees Basement Bars making a great impact.
“The ultimate goal is to run the entertainment industry. We want to make movies, TV shows, sign musical artists, all of that, but we know we have to take it slow and do one thing at a time,” he said.
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