Mogul City Media & Entertainment Group

Want your own recording label? Producing music has never been easier or cheaper. Richard Budrik, 54, had been manager of a Manhattan wine store for two decades when he decided last year to start his own record label. Huh? A middle-age man who knew zip about the shark-eat-shark music business? Throw money into an industry that was laying off thousands of workers? Budrik, though, did not have to risk his life savings, as he might have done a generation ago. He invested a measly $5,000. More surprising: In just 18 months his little label, Premier Cru Music, has pulled in revenue of $16,000 and has gotten worldwide airplay on BBC radio. Budrik woke up one morning to find himself producer of a Bangkok disc jockey's top-five pick. Technology has done to the marketing of recorded music what it did a decade ago to the publishing of the printed word--lowered the barrier to entry down to just about zero. Clay Pasternack, chairman of the Association for Independent Music, says you can put out...