Behind the Scenes of an Indie Record Label

Right now, I'm spending a week in Music City: Nashville, TN and it's been amazing.

It's unlike anything I've experienced to be in a place where everything is consumed by music. If you haven't visited and experienced music city for yourself, I highly recommend a trip. Highly!

Ok, so I wanted to drop some behind the scenes insights for all the artists, producers, and label owners on the list by sharing some of the management decisions I've been making in my own music career. 

Lion Bold Records

My indie record label is always going to be my baby. But to be honest, as of late it got a little bloated. We signed 2 artists in 2019, worked on 3 movies, did a ton of client marketing, recording, & producing for indie musicians AND our new music business training launched just a few months back.

It got to the point where everyone at Lion Bold was wondering "what is it that we do exactly? Are we a record label anymore? Or are we a production company? Are we a school?"

For a while, it was all of the above...

Hard Decisions: 

The truth of the matter is that even though Lion Bold was doing more work than ever before, doing more isn't necessarily a good thing. This led to the hard decision of reducing the scope of Lion Bold to just a few things and saying no to everything else.

What the Future Holds:

  • Lion Bold will continue to work with talented artists with production, marketing, and branding.

  • However, our new music business training academy will NOT remain with Lion Bold

Indie Music Academy

Our new music industry training is now going to exist on a completely new website: www.indiemusicacademy.com

The purpose of the Indie Music Academy is to help artists learn how the music business works and give them the same marketing tools and tactics that we use with our artists so that they can build a successful career in music for themselves!

At the time of writing this, over 14 artists have joined and the feedback has been nothing but positive! I can’t wait to expand and grow the training.

What the Future Holds:

  • Our first intensive training is available for artists to join right now! Find out if the Indie Music Academy is right for you by visiting: www.indiemusicacademy.com/workshop

  • We are already working on 10+ more training series and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Work With Me Directly

Some of you have asked how to get me involved in your musical projects outside of the record label. I have never done this before until now: I am now a SoundBetter Producer and am available to produce, mix, and master your songs.

I’m currently building my profile on SoundBetter and have EXTRA LOW PRICING for all new clients. To work with me on your song, send me a message and let me know how you would like to work together: https://soundbetter.com/profiles/173609-ryan-waczek

What the Future Holds:

  • I’m hoping that by making myself available on SoundBetter, I’ll be able to directly help many of you achieve your musical dreams through crafting the perfect sound for your song

  • Work with Lion Bold Records without having to sign away any of your royalties ;)

I hope that this behind the scenes look through my decision-making process gives you some great insight into how I run my music business. I know many of you are building amazing music empires of your own, best of luck!

Ryan Waczek