Does the Master Own You??
Yes Sir Boss! I was willing to do anything to get famous and get off this merry-go-round of being an unknown artist. I just signed my first record contract and we go into the studio with a by the numbers producer. I don’t even know his name!
Yeah partner! The record company said that they would take my masters and keep them for me! That is so sweet of them. They just know that we’re going to be the next hot band in America! They even advanced us 50,000 dollars to do the album, video, pay the producer and pay for a swanky spot in Beverly Hills while we record this!
Our agent is brilliant! He told the publishing company that we signed with that we don’t need a revision clause as far as publishing with them. It’s an 80-20 deal and that’s peanuts because we’re going to sell millions and millions of records! The record company is setting us up right now. We’ll be bigger than the other bands that came before us!
We owe them a CD every 8 months and if the previous one doesn’t sell, then they would take the profits from the second CD and put it towards the balance due for the first one not selling! Gee, this is great business practice.
I’ll let my manager and agent handle all the business stuff! I don’t have time for all of that. I’ve got songs to write and girls that will scream over me! Sometimes, I feel like I’m in jail, but at least the jail has a nice bed and is air conditioned.
As an indie artist, you need to master your career and be the master of your destiny.
As you are chasing your record deal, stop and think. Will you control the Master or will the Master control you?
One of my favourite bands at the moment is a local indie band that records CDs and sells them at their gigs – they perform around the local area, and have quite a cult following. They haven’t got a web site sorted yet, unfortunately, but I’m sure when they get one going they will be able to expand their audience while keeping the freedom they have at the moment.
Why would anyone go for a deal as restrictive and unfair as the one you mention?
I realize your post was quite a bit tongue in cheek, but man I wonder how many artists think that way when they get a record deal dangled in front of them. How many of them will sign on the dotted line, without even reading what they are signing. It’s almost sad! I tend to think that most labels are nothing but money grubbing sharks that are out to eat artists for lunch, and see how much they can bleed them for until the next “greatest band in the world” comes along!
The problem with this big labels is they use the names of famous artists. They dazzle you with the big names they work with, famous artists they produced, fortune, the world… Basically they tell you what the average artists want to hear. The question of who controls who is a very real issue when choosing labels. Remember Elvis and the Colonel?
It is a big industry, one has to work a deal man.It is a clear fact that when is at receiving end, one has to go with the terms and conditions of the master.But the scene is better now.Otherwise the efficiency of the artist is reduced. Well I am not talking about the big names.
The worst part about this is you cant be the one who you wanted to be. Your songs, your style and kind of music will be in the masters order because your just their worker who work for them. But this will get you very famous if you are lucky and good enough.
Big industries do make you famous and stuff with the good songs you’ve written and played but the fortune wouldn’t be that too great compared to what they will receive. And one more thing, they made you therefore they can break you. They contol you. How cool is that? zero.
It goes like this, you need a ladder to climb to the top.One has to dance to the tunes to attain the desired. Once you are on the top then there is no stopping for you.The big stars I think are the masters of every thing related to their music.