August 25th, 2007
My Ass Hurts Just From Reading This
I know that I’ve waved the flag about how monetizing other content besides music is important to a revenue stream and is part of the next generation label model. The entity that plunks down an investment participates in all aspects of the artists life, in a management/ label hybrid model. In my somewhat Utopian vision of this, I pictured artists working together with their labels as true venture partners- mutual shareholders in a growing global brand. Sadly, I was floated some language from a not-to-be-named label, and once again they get it totally wrong.
To paraphrase the deal:
The label gets 20% of any income you earn, regardless if your’e an actor in a movie or on TV, on any merchandise or for-sale product bearing the name/ likeness of the artists, any income from endorsements or strategic partnerships, income from any books or articles you write, or videogames.
So labels, for doing nothing extra besides funding a recording and maybe a few extra bucks… get to take 20% of anything they create in any medium for the term of the deal.
Now here’s the best part, the label also dictates a cap on the fees that managers and booking agents can take with respect to recouping their fees before the labels get theirs. So the guy that does ALL the work has to re-negotiate so a third party (who doesn’t even commit to making sure tour posters are printed or make any performance promises of any kind) can take a vig.
If you’re going to take money, at least create opportunity and make some effort to manage this.
Clearly this is going to get worse before it gets better.
Written by Bill Wilson
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On August 27th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Ron said:
And if the artist sells blood so s/he can eat, I imagine the label gets $4 of that $20 as well.
On August 27th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Team TALENTfilter said:
Gross. Might as well just take out a bank loan and do it all yourself.
On August 27th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Bill W said:
The paradigms of f__ the customer and __ the artist need to change. This is why people don’t feel bad about stealing music.
On August 28th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Pulsar said:
Gee, I wonder which label this is **coughcoughVICTORYcough**
On August 29th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Howdy Doody said:
You could take out a loan, but, unless you’re an established act, or have established management behind you, your ability to get decent retail distro, and countless other things are going to be out of reach.
On August 30th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Bill Wilson said:
FYI, not Victory.