Quoted:
What record label no matter how small requires a fee from the artist? Shouldn't it always be the other way around?

Originally Posted By Blair Joscelyne (Moog):
Record Deals - A lot of people who listen to my music send in messages and say things like “wow you should get a record deal” or “soon the big companies will sign you up”. Interestingly, while this narrative feeds into the fantasy of being a ‘rock star’ it doesn’t always equate into an environment that is going to look after the needs of the artist.

And as such, I’d like to share something that I wrote up a little while ago. I didn’t share it at the time because I wanted the dust to settle, but being that you don’t usually see the details of what a contract entails, here was the offer that I received after one of my albums went to #1 on the iTunes Charts.

So here goes, the year is 2014 and my Record Deal and contract has just arrived:
"I've just been offered a Record 'Deal' with one of the well known labels. The day my record went to #1 on iTunes the phone started ringing with vultures circling on the hunt for fresh meat. The first contract came through three days later. After I sign it, they will own my name and image. I won't be allowed to make music for anyone else (which is a little inconvenient when my full time salaried job is writing songs)

I have to pay for 100% of the production costs of all of my albums while under the label. It's a three year deal and during that time, after I've paid all the singers, mixing time, mastering and artwork fees, the label will take 80% of anything it earns. But before it even gets to this point they will have up to 5 'listening sessions' so they can tell me whether my music is any good or not and give me feedback. If they don't like it, they own it anyway, even though they haven't paid a cent for it and if they decide to shelve it I won't be able to do any music for anyone else for at least three years. (They don’t have to release it at all if they don’t want to and then I’m not allowed to either)

The amazing part is that the contract includes a self-funded album that I've already released earlier this month so technically I would have to tally up any profit it's made and forward 80% of it to the company. (Yes an album I've already done - I'll have to pay them because they'll give it some promo and 'label support')

I also have to remix other artists on their label (free of charge for three albums) and appear live as a 'DJ' multiple times each year (also free of charge). I"m not a DJ so I'll have to call Paris Hilton and get some tips.

But luckily, there's a 'Sign On Bonus' which is… hold on where has it gone? Oh there it is, sorry I almost couldn't see it. It's right there in the box that says 'Artist Fee': $0.

So I pay to make my own music. I pay them for the music I've already made. They pay me nothing, contribute zero towards he costs and in return own my name and image and then take 80% of anything it earns. Someone pass me a pen because this 'deal' is incredible"

Quoted:
My friend wants me to tryout for an opening in his band. He tells me they just signed with a small label. Evidently the label requested $5,000 or so up front (and maybe the rest of fee at a later date).

I don't have an interest in playing in a band now, but something seems not quite right about this. What record label no matter how small requires a fee from the artist? Shouldn't it always be the other way around?

Quoted:
My friend wants me to tryout for an opening in his band. He tells me they just signed with a small label. Evidently the label requested $5,000 or so up front (and maybe the rest of fee at a later date).

I don't have an interest in playing in a band now, but something seems not quite right about this. What record label no matter how small requires a fee from the artist? Shouldn't it always be the other way around?

Quoted:
My friend wants me to tryout for an opening in his band. He tells me they just signed with a small label. Evidently the label requested $5,000 or so up front (and maybe the rest of fee at a later date).

I don't have an interest in playing in a band now, but something seems not quite right about this. What record label no matter how small requires a fee from the artist? Shouldn't it always be the other way around?

Quoted:
Not that I know shit about record deals these days, but I am always highly suspicious of bands that aren't really bands, but that are somehow on the brink of getting a major recording contract.

You see this sort of crap on craigslist all the time, "Band getting signed to record label, needs drummer, bass player, keyboardist, and lead guitarist." 

Record companies want to see established bands with a track record of headlining shows and selling their shit. How are you about to get signed when you don't even have the personnel together?

Go audition if you have time and ask questions. You'll find out soon enough if your musician friend is being sold a line of crap, or if he is full of it himself.

Quoted:
Record labels are really horrible. It would not surprise me at all if they charged a fee.

Quoted:



<- Played in a band with a record deal, toured the country several times in a van and later worked on the label side while not wildly successful did have one band crack the billboard charts.  Spent plenty of time around much larger bands and much more successful industry folks along the way and learned plenty.


Yes, that story stinks to high heaven.  That's no record deal, that's a con job.  The most fundamental function of a record label is to act as a financier of studio projects.  That's the reason they exist.

They don't exist to record albums, that's the recording studio's job.
They don't exist to manufacture albums, that's the pressing house's job.
They don't exist to distribute albums, that's the distributors job.
They don't exist to market and promote albums, that's a marketing company's job.
They don't exist to book tours, that's the booking company's job.

So what the fuck is this "label" doing for your friend if they aren't financing the album?  I'm going to take a wild guess and bet that this "label" is some guy in his garage with hardly two nickels to rub together.

For a record deal to be even remotely legit there should be an exchange of consideration in the form of an advance to the band in order to record the album.  Now there is such a thing as a legit garage label but even then there should be money changing hands in the direction of the artist being signed even if it's only a few hundred bucks.  Any label that asks the artist to pony up money is front for a scam.  There is just about zero chance that a label like that will do anything meaningful for the artist other than take their money.  There is zero reason to tie up the rights to your music with anyone if they aren't taking on some of the financial risk of the project.

Your friend can just as easily pay for his own studio time directly, hire his own booking agent, hire his own publicity company, and distribute his own music both physically and digitally, and retain ALL of the profits if he's going to spend the upfront money anyway.

Quoted:
In light of this, I have to wonder what the point of a record label is in 2017. Unless you're dirt poor (and I suppose many aspiring musicians are...), you can certainly record your own material. And I'm not talking about you and your buddies firing up GarageBand on the guitar player's Mac - I mean you can flat out book studio time, and even pay a producer for his time and expertise. It's not that expensive, especially if you already have the songs written and rehearsed, and have a really solid idea of what the final product will sound like in your head. I mean, if you're going to pay $200/hr+ to use a professional studio as a place to write and practice (or worse, insist on a 100% analog production down to whipping out a razor blade for the tape edits), then sure - its expensive as all get out.  But otherwise...it's honestly not that bad. 

I'd even hypothesize that you could (as a vanity project) straight up hire studio musicians by the hour to play and record what you've got in your head, or at least a reasonable approximation of it. Seriously, I'll bet I could scrounge $10k up all by my lonesome and come out the other end with about 40-50 minutes of a finished, professionally recorded and mastered rock or country album - as long as I had a really good idea of what the finished product should sound like, and wasn't insanely ambitious with the production. If you've got every track more or less mapped out in your head (for every song) and just need some technical talent (seasoned musicians) as hired guns to actually perform it, I actually think it'd be doable. 

And I know for a fact that I could fork out $3k for a 500 vinyl LP run at a pressing plant, as long as I didn't go full retard with the packaging. And if it's really only being done as a vanity project (instead of a real business), I could probably get somebody to do a 100 vinyl LP run for $1,500. Vanity project...done. And that's doing something insane, like deliberately choosing what is probably the most (objectively) useless and expensive way to sell your product in the modern age. And if it happens to become some kind of unexpected viral hit - fine. Economies of scale kick in. Lucky me. 

Quoted:
With YouTube iTunes.  Why bother with a outdated business model?

Quoted:
It's a scam . . . .