Posted on 01/03/2021 11:36:42 AM PST by SamAdams76
You've finally made it. A record label recognized your exceptional talent and offered you what seems like the deal of a lifetime. But before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you actually understand what you're signing so your dreams of fame and fortune don't turn into a nightmare like it did for Robert Henderson (you never heard of him and there's a reason for that, as he could have been bigger than John Cougar). Here are five tips every artist should consider before signing their first recording contract.
Typically, the initial length of a recording contract is one year. This one year term is generally followed by several option periods, where the record label is free to renew your contract for additional time periods if they like the work you're producing. By limiting the length of your contract to one year, not including option periods, you prevent a record label from effectively controlling your life and creative work for an unreasonable amount of time.
You never know where your career will take you, and it's important to keep your options open. I've seen unscrupulous record labels use five- and even 10-year terms, locking their artists into long-term contracts that destroy their artists' creative lives and financial futures. Before signing that contract, make sure the record label isn't locking you into a lengthy contract with no escape.
In addition, you should think about negotiating a minimum marketing spend as a part of your release commitment. This gives the record label some "skin in the game" when producing your album, forcing them to actually spend money to market your creativity, making your hard work pay off.
Don't let a record label convince you that a one or two percent royalty rate is the industry standard. Some record labels prey upon unsuspecting artists by offering relatively large upfront signing bonuses, giving their artists an initial feeling of success. But in return, the contract gives the artist a paltry royalty rate, ensuring that the label – not the artist – will reap all the long-term rewards of artistic success.
But some record labels sneak in abhorrent and enormous royalty deductions that all but guarantee you'll never receive a royalty check. Watch out for deductions based upon the record label's general costs of doing business, like the deduction of record label owners' salaries and benefits. You should also keep your eyes peeled for deductions that give the label a blank check, like unlimited deductions for travel, hotel stays, car rental, meals and entertainment, and other costs that a devious record label could use to rack up a lavish tab at your expense.
Artists often ask me how they can ensure the record label is being honest with them about the total number of albums or tracks sold. Without honest communication and detailed record keeping, the relationship between artist and label can quickly turn contentious. An audit provision is the best way to prevent this type of communication breakdown before it happens.
The typical audit provision gives the artist the ability to hire a third party auditor to go through the record label's books and records and make sure they're paying the artist what he or she is entitled to under the contract. Typically, the artist must pay for this type of audit. However, many audit clauses require that the record label pay for the audit if a large discrepancy is found.
Before signing a record deal, it’s always a good idea to hire qualified legal counsel to review the record label's proposed contract. But with the above tips in mind, you can now at least look at the contract and know whether the label is trying to squeeze every last penny out of your artistic abilities while hanging you out to dry. Remember, you can be the next John Cougar with your very own "Jack And Diane" type anthem!
I’ve read that many artists are by-passing the Record Labels and producing on their own. Am I wrong?
People wasting time on Free Republic will never get a record deal. Useless post.
“If you’ve been playing for years, we’ve already heard your song.”
The Internet is a fantastic medium for distribution, but copyrights get little murky. Just look at what's going on with Twitch and their on-again-off-again DMCA takedowns of streamers who play copyrighted music. It's insanely frustrating and can bring a streamer's revenue to zero quickly if they're "DMCA'd."
I'd love to see the DMCA repealed and rewritten. It's a cluster.
#6 Can I be sued for torture or crimes against humanity by singing?
Says the failed musician with an Aerosmith song as his tagline.
Have you ever read “The Hotel New Hampshire”?
This article is a bit of a joke.
Record deals these days are, except for rare exceptions, a lose / lose for the artist.
There is NO money now in making albums. Everyone, steals the music and Spotify etc. pay so little it is meaningless even for big name artists.
You can only make money with live performance. And that only makes money for the biggest acts - for everyone else it is a wage paying grind at best.
Record deals are just marketing avenues now - and the artist pays for that. Even if I (I tried to make a living as a recording artist at one time) hand the label a finished product, and they have no recording costs, all of the contracts these days are such that even if the label sells 500,000 copies (not easy to do these days) I would still OWE them money.
Yes you can record very cheaply now and market yourself on Youtube etc. Lady gag gag comes to mind. And sell your cd’s yourself. But it is not easy. And there just isn’t much money in album sales.
Cause everyone STEALS THE MUSIC - relatively few actually pay for it.
Yes I’m a little bitter. heh
You never know who they know that may benefit from the advice.
“Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Beat me to it.
They have their own producers and just put it out there. Also, heard some Rock artists that mixed things up with an original sound.
The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story
He was also a total con man and rip-off artist, who died in a federal prison while serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements.
There are no record deals these days.
80% of the money in the industry today is from streaming which is full of fraud and must go online via only authorized agents (no direct path for independent self-released artists anymore).
The streaming charts are even faker than this past election. Server farms around the world banking play counts.
I ran the smallest brass, jazz, and blues label from 1997 to 2017. Not an easy business.
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