If You Really Want To Sign A Record Deal…
October 9, 2006 by Brooke
Filed under Label Bashing
Maybe you are at the point in your musical career where things are just getting a little too difficult. You dream of days when you will be able to play your music the way that you want to on the stage. However, there is the problem of getting to be known as an artist. Wouldn’t it be better to just sign a record deal?
Before you even think of signing on the dotted line, consider what you will really be getting into.
The rule of the ‘big four’ when signing a record deal is that the only thing you will make is royalties as the artist. That means that the millions of dollars you may accumulate….go to everyone else first.
Not only that, but if you don’t sell, it means that you are in debt to the record company. You owe them for the recording time, songs they arranged, and all of the little details that go into making a song and marketing it.
The recording industry, when looked at from a national level, is a business. It is about cash flow going into everyone’s pockets, from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom. As an artist, you will be the bottom.
So, when the going gets tough as an Indie artist, remember that if you had decided to sign that record deal, things would be much worse.
My cousin went through something similar. He found a label that wanted him and his band. They were all excited and it seemed like finally their dream was becoming a reality. Then they read the fine print. Thank goodness he had my aunt (an attorney) look it over first. They were about to sell their souls. This is such good advice. Always alway always read the fine print !
I hadn’t realised that you were under so much pressure to sell once you got the contract - I assumed that it was the company taking a gamble on you, and that while the terms were not so generous, and they essentially ‘owned’ you - they could make you do pretty much anything, it was their job to make the records sell?
The deal seems to be worse than I thought
If you sign on that dotted line, the label will almost literally own you. You have to go where they tell you to go, when they tell you to go, see who they tell you to see, be who they tell you to be. This is the music industry’s version of the old Hollywood Studio system. In the old days the big studios owned any actor they had under contract. God forbid if they acted then like they act now. Do you think Sean Penn would have gotten away with his crap under that system? It’s the same thing with the power of the label.
It is never about them gambling their money on you. Business would never survive that way. This is why people are dropped in the middle of contracts. They just cannot fulfill their part of the contract and in many cases they are too eager to the get the deal that they have no clue what they are getting themselves into.
This is why many times artist turn to drugs and alcohol. Because they cannot really deal with life and the decisions they have made. They are pretty much owned by the label.
Nice article on the reality of the music industry. This is something all striving artists should know about, that there’s another way for them to get their music out to the public. Thanks to the internet Indie Music is now growing fast. I hope more popular artists will support Independent labels.
Hi Leighdu, yeah, we really need to read first before getting into it. this article has a lot to say and this is good for many amateur artists and bands. they should be aware of this for them not to get involved in this kind of stuff in the future.
I agree with you attagirl. signing a contract takes a lot of time to think about. if you have signed it, you should follow what are in the contract. and that is how businesses run it. and we can not do anything about that because it is part of the contract. you are right that some engages on drugs because of this.
right Shadow. not only in the music industry, but also on other jobs. if you will work for a company, they will really own you because they have a contract for you to sign. and if you did sign it, it means that you are already owned by them and that you will do everything that was in the contract.
Sometimes signing a contract deal to those well known label company is resulting in a disband of some bands. Why? because of greed. Friendship will lost, as we all know that some bands out there are a group of friends who play just for fun and suddenly break that relationship because of problems and issues.