How Labels Shaft Musicians - Overview
June 10, 2006 by InBlaze
Filed under Label Bashing
In all honesty, unless you stumbled upon this blog by mistake then there is a very real chance you will know all of this. At the very least, you will have had a vague idea that these things certainly do occur. However, one of my routine searches for any information pertaining to independent music threw up an AskMen article titled 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Record Deals. While the information may be generally accepted as gospel to the proponents of independent music, as well as those currently being shafted by their labels, it is good to see that the word is being spread a little bit more. The article covers the fact that:
- Signing a record deal is like selling your soul
- How record labels use hidden costs to take more money off artists
- Cash advances need to be returned
- Deals can leave you with no recording opportunity
- A deal also takes all of the copyrights to your masterpieces.
It might not be breaking news to some of us, but I’m equally sure that many readers will want a further run down on a lot of the points mentioned. So, expect five more posts to follow looking at each point in more detail in the coming weeks. If you already know it, then read anyway and get your blood boiling and your anger rising at the hideous way that the major labels treat artists.