setrbw.blogg.se - Album receipts

the time it takes to produce, deliver, market, and sell the first EP or LP, plus any Extensions, e.g. Terms are often the sum of two things: The Initial Period, e.g.

Term / Exploitation Period: The period of time in which the music company you sign with has the right to distribute, market, sell, and/or profit from your work, usually exclusively, aka if anyone else tries, they’re gonna be in big trouble.

Rights / Grant of Rights: All the things the music company plans to make money from and/or promote, which might include streams, downloads, and sales of master recordings, official artist videos, photos, logos, cover songs, synch licenses or sublicenses, your name, cover artwork, and bios, plus merch, touring, and more in 360 deals.

That said, it’s still common to find territorial windows for instance, working with a French-based label to build buzz in Europe while a U.S. This tends to be “universe” because future humans will stream “Rocket Man” (Thugger’s version) on Mars, among other reasons.

Territory : All the places a music company can distribute, market, and profit from your work.

Grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and buckle up. With pesky caveats sidelined and high-level perspective provided, we can now dig into the meat of the matter: the contractual language that many record deals have in common, from small-scale indies to traditional corporations to yours truly. The Juice: Expanding On Record Deal Key Points

Royalties / Revenue Share: The % of revenue you keep v.s.

Budgets: Recoupable cash reserves usually used for specific things, e.g.

Advances: Recoupable cash payments (aka future earnings) you can spend freely.

Release Commitment: The minimum product(s) that the label has to formally release.Recording Commitment: The # of songs or projects you have to deliver.Rights: The different things the label can legally profit from, use, and/or control.Term / Exploitation Period: How long the label controls the rights to your music.

Territory: Where the label controls the rights to your music.Whether the label’s executives are personally interested in the deal process.Whether the label’s A&R team believes in the artist’s music more than most.Whether the artists’ catalogue (prior releases) are available to distribute.Whether the artist brings a built-in audience to the table (e.g.Whether the lawyer has a particularly close relationship with the company.Whether the artist is working with a high-caliber team already (e.g.Whether other music companies are looking to sign (or resign) an artist.Whether the artist’s social channels show over-indexing engagement rates.Whether the artist’s live show is a victory lap or a work in progress or a wreck.Whether the artist has co-signs from notable writers, producers, artists, etc.Whether the artist already has a track record of music sales and streams.The following conditions often impact why two supposedly similar artists might receive different offers. While most of these agreements consist of the same Commercial Clauses (advances, royalty rates, term lengths, etc.), actual numbers vary wildly. To honor humanity’s endless push toward pure efficiency (and to protect label financial interests), many record deals start with the same foundation, which is what we’ll dissect in a second. should be discussed with a licensed attorney. Any and all contracts / agreements / deals etc. This is not and is not intended to be legal advice. But big digits hardly scratch the surface of what’s inside the PDF files that lawyers go to war over, which is why we’re taking a tour of the fundamentals, right here, right now, in the second Decoded: Record Deals installment. It’s easy to gloss over hidden complexities and fragmented payouts to secure surface-level bragging rights. An ongoing race to net the next big headline (“Artist X Signs for $99,000,000,000!”) distracts teams new and old from the underlying mechanics that impact more than money. Sorta.įor better or worse, deals double as status symbols. Almost always, they dictate a trade: multi-year copyright control for racks of cash, marketing commitments for a chunk of royalties, early investment for the final say on whether your hair should be green or blue for the next album cycle. These agreements bind company and creator in legal matrimony, spelling out business specifics to fend off future he-said-she-saids. Signing day is as serious as it is celebratory. When signing a record deal, one clause can be the difference between picking your singles and losing your vision, amassing wealth and missing out, buying the dream car and leasing the minivan (nothing personal, minivan). The almighty record deal - sought after, vilified, ever-evolving - boils down to words on a page, and those words hold weight.