Read: [The 35-Minute CD]

Okay, it's possible that someone will read my concept about the 35-minute CD and respond, "Chris, you're out of your mind. It's not fair to bands to make them record a 35-minute CD if they don't want to record a 35-minute CD. Music is about art, and art can't be defined by a specific, pre-determined time-length."

Yes, good point. Music should be about art.

But, at this point, the major labels don't sign bands who specialize in art. For the most part, those bands are relegated to indie labels, where the financial limitations associated with major label records factor in differently.

For starters, indie records are less expensive to produce. There's usually not the push to hire an expensive producer to record the record. And there's no interest in hiring a professional mixer (like Andy Wallace, who mixed Nevermind and So Much for the Afterglow, among many others), whose involvement can cost upwards of $40,000 per song.

But the main reason that indie records are cheaper to produce is because the typical expectation isn't to sell a million copies. Indie records are generally more artistic because they're largely intended for the fans who love a specific band's art. They're not aimed at a worldwide audience, and therefore, they don't need the promotions expense that a typical major label record does. For some indie records, selling 10,000 copies is a tremendous success.

Okay, the majors do have a few bands that make artistic work. But, for the most part, those bands met one of two prior criteria:

1. They sold several million copies of a more mainstream record.
2. They built a large following on an indie label release.

Some bands beat those criteria by winning the lottery and finding just enough success with their first major label release to gave them the ability to make more artistic records later. Radiohead, for example, found modest success with "Creep" on Pablo Honey, and it gave them the power to make more artistic-minded records as the years progressed. Tool found success with "Sober" from Undertow, and it allowed them the same freedom.

But most new major label bands don't get that lucky. The past decade was littered with bands who made fantastic, artistic debut records that didn't sell enough copies to keep them on said major.

Extrapolating on the 35-minute CD plan - if a band wants to avoid this restriction, they should know to build a following on an indie label first before they sign to a major. Think of the time and effort Jimmy Eat World could have saved by signing to an indie for their first two records. I don't believe they made enough to pay back their advances with their first two records. It was the indie-released compilation that gave them the money to make Bleed American.

Most bands want the immediate success that signing directly to a major can bring them. But if you look through history, you'll see that bands that grow up on indie labels are far better prepared for the major label world, and often have much better bargaining power than their inexperienced peers.

Nirvana, for example, started life on Sub Pop Records. Supporting Bleach on an indie allowed them to make contacts who would later score the band one of the best major label contracts ever signed by a "new" band. And it gave them a sizeable audience via college radio that would prime the pump for their later success. (Nevermind sold 50,000 in the first two weeks of release, long before it reached mainstream radio and MTV. Many new major label bands don't have that kind of success for their debut records, period.)

I don't know - I'm largely just playing the intellectual debate. If you don't like the 35-minute CD idea, there's always the Vanessa Carleton method: record one song and pump it to radio. If it catches on, then record the rest of the album.

On second thought, that method just sounds like a pain-in-the-ass.