if you want to put out a release on a national scale (we're talking in excess of 100,000 copies), then there is a substansail financial risk involved, and no-one will take that risk unless they expect to make good money out of it, and it's not too risky.. this means the record lable will pick the bands that are doing mostly what is popular at the moment, and if you get picked put out your most catchy songs, not necserilly your best, and secondly they will put serious restrictions on the content of your music...
This is why I love small local record lables, you get to hear some really early cool stuff from bands, and it's not forced or restricted... THe small record lalbels are like stepping stones at the moment, which i think is better than having the big companies look at the charts and look for more of the same (which is not a good thing, and you only need to look at the BIG rap artists, and your "PRS" bands, as i call them.) At the end of the day though, you look at the huge sums of money that go in to recording an album alone, and then look at the promotion costs, you relizes that the record companies are only doing what they have to make a living... so to get onto a major record lable and remain respected and well looked after, you really need to have a good track record and have a buz about you at the mo, which is really hard to achieve (but that's the story with the strokes)..
Hope this made sense instead of my usual ramblings..
