Country Time
Independence + Talent + Work Ethic + Drive = Success
By: Matt Bjorke
Last updated May 14th , 2010

With the music world changing and record labels seemingly turning more into promotional partners than they ever have been in the past, there are some artists out there that have been working as independent artists for years now.  In country music one of those artists is Billy Yates.  He's released eight albums in his career.  Only one of those, his first release from 1997, came on a major label. The rest came on his own label called M.O.D. Record Label or "My Own Damn Record Label."  Billy has been such a success that he released a "Favorites" album in 2006. 

His eighth album, released last summer, is Bills Barber Shop and it finds the singer/songwriter (who has had cuts by everyone from George Jones to Chris Young) firmly in his 'neo-traditionalist' groove.  There is literally something for every kind of country fan, from those who love great story songs like the title track, Strait-like tracks like "Tell Me I Was Wrong" to fun, partyin' types of songs like "One Beer A Day"  and "Margarita Meltdown."  Billy's been so successful with his self-released records that he is often in Europe touring Germany, the UK and the Netherlands where ecstatic fans heartily embrace his music.  

Jaron Lowenstein was half of the pop duo Evan & Jaron, and while they scored one huge pop hit in "Crazy For This Girl," the duo's tunes often felt more like they were ripe for country radio so it is only natural that after Jaron created his own solo "band" called The Long Road To Love that he'd go country.  

Realizing that the world was changing for artists, he partnered with an independent promotional firm and got his single "Pray For You" into the Top 40 before Universal Republic Records came calling and offered a distribution deal and a partnership with the  Nashville Indie Big Machine Label Group (home to Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire among others).  Jaron's now plotting the release of his debut solo album in June.  The Harters are a family from Arizona and after Michael Harter released one solo record with major indie Broken Bow Records, he started singing with his family and that brought them to the attention of the Bigger Picture Records, where The Harters have taken off and scored some radio success with their first single "Jenny." They recently released a five song EP titled Family. Love. Harmony. 

Perhaps nobody's had a bigger 'independent' career than Colt Ford has had the past year and a half.  

Without much radio successs, he's sold over 200,000 copies of his albums and recently got a Top 30 debut on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart with his latest Chicken & Biscuits.  What sets Colt Ford, Billy Yates, the Harters and Jaron apart is their willingness to work hard independently of the 'ecosystem' that has been in flux for a while now.   Before the last decade, independent labels and artists couldn't get much traction at radio and while it still costs a tremendous amount of money (to pay promo people) to get a song into the Top 10 at country radio, it's now not the only avenue to success, as Colt Ford and Billy Yates have proven.  With the internet, digital delivery via iTunes and other factors, the overhead to promoting a career has gotten less and less.  The costs of recording a high-quality recording are even lower than they've ever been thanks to DYI programs like Pro Tools.

The question must be asked, then, if these folks are successful with DYI efforts and lower overhead, why haven't more people come out and gotten as much or more success than the likes of Colt Ford and Billy Yates?  It's as simple as this: they had the talent.  There are plenty of people working hard trying to sell their music but without the talent, they won't get too far, no matter how easy the internet and DYI programs have made a music career easier to achieve.  

[Tags] Country

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