Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda – HuffPost 3.16.11
Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?
Mike Shinoda: My advice for new artists…I always feel like a broken record, I say the same thing. These days, the most important thing for them to do is to do it themselves, to get familiar with recording your own music, distributing your own music, building your own fan base without many other people’s help. I think the crutch for a lot of young artists is when they sign with somebody else, they think somebody who knows better is going to come in and magically make a fan base appear for them, but that’s not how it works. Really, there are so many applications, so many programs that you can download and you can use online that will allow you the tools to get it done. If you can create your own fan base of a thousand up to ten thousand fans, then if you decide to sign with a major label, you will have all of the leverage in the world. You’ve got a fan base of ten thousand people, that gives you more leverage so that they would have to give you more in your contract if you decide to do that. If you go it alone at ten thousand fans, you have every right to do that. You’re going to be making a hundred percent of the money instead of a small little sliver that they would leave you with at the end of getting involved with a small artist who has no leverage.
MR: Of course, there are so many more opportunities and options for an artist now than there ever were before.
MS: I was laughing about this with somebody the other day. Even just ten years ago, when we wanted to write music in our bus, it would take a unit the size of a refrigerator to get it done. Today, I can literally just take my laptop. We are talking about Pro Tools, we are talking about Garage Band, Logic, and all of the other things out there. I personally use Pro Tools, I think it’s great. Then, after you’ve made songs, you’ve got Facebook, you have Twitter, you have great sites like Bandcamp and Topspin that will help you, basically, sell your music and concert tickets. You literally can do so much now that you couldn’t do even five years ago. Artists can get really far doing it themselves.