Trying to get a deal? Read this.

[Guest Dr. Downer]

Dr. Downer here, and it's time to tell another side of the truth to all those trying to get started releasing music...

 

Be aware that as an artist there is a very good chance that labels will:

a) offer you an unfair contract (eg little or no advance, crap royalties, perpetual license) and refuse to negotiate important clauses

under-report sales

c) not promote your material adequately

d) not inform you of any sub-licenses (compilation use, etc) - a big earner

e) not account to you within the contracted period

f) DJ your (new, fresh) tracks themselves and not get you, the artist, any gigs or DJ bookings

g) underpay

 

Record labels exist to make money. Sorry, but they do, even psy-trance labels. And not necessarially for their artists, either. If they think they can get away with it, they will do anything they can to maximise their income and minimise their outgoings. The only thing you can do is to be so on-the-ball that they don't bother trying to scam you (in which case you might not get taken on in the first place in favour of some other, easier bait) or be friends with them in the first place (not guaranteed; business does strange things to relationships). Even being a really nice person does not necessarially help - nice guys give too much away.

 

Obviously, there are a lot of label managers out there who are honest, hard-working and genuinely in it for the music and for the benefit of their artists. But finding them is a long, painful, disillusioning process. The psy-trance market is frankly not large enough to support labels AND artists. Forming your own label is not necessarially a better proposition as you then have to deal direct with distributors, who are even more hard-nosed than most label managers. Anyone heard of Flying Distribution? Or MRL/Kukomi? Who is in an even better position to under-report sales than the company actually shifting the units for you?

 

IMO, if you want to make spiritual music for the people the best thing you can do for yourself (and your spirituality) is to make it with no thought of reward. MP3.COM is one of a number of places where good music can be heard by many people (with a certain amount of self-promotion) and you can even earn a bit off it under certain circumstances. There are others; sending your tunes off to promoters (with adequate safeguards) will get you DJ gigs/live sets if your tunes and mixing is good enough, and for many producers this can actually earn you more than releasing the tracks on a comp-by-comp basis. Maybe consider setting up a website and selling your CDs from there; this can work well with your gigs promoting the site (always make sure youo get your URL on the flyer!).

 

Sorry to piss on your parade but some things need to be said. Everything here is backed up by my experiences and those of my close friends. Obviously, these are not universal experiences and many people will sail through their careers without meeting the obstacles I have; I pray that you (and every producer who reads this) are one of them. However, there is one thing you can virtually guarantee in this business and that is that you WILL be ripped off at least once.

 

As for myself, suffice to say, after nearly a decade of chasing my dream of a life of music (including 2 albums and a shit-load of 12"s and compilation usage on some of the world's best known labels; I have never heard of a bad review of any of our tracks and am fairly confident that pretty much everyone on this site has heard at least one of my tracks at some time in the past) I am on the verge of getting a job for the first time in my life as it is obvious to me now that the music business is no place for someone who is more artist than businessman. I'm sick of the dishonesty in the business, sick of being taken advantage of.

 

Please, learn from my mistakes.

 

Good luck.

 

Dr. Downer

 

PS. When I was 16 and had just signed to my first manager, the owner of the recording studio I was working in [precocius little bastard, wasn't I?] gave me the best piece of advice I have ever received. He said, "The only sure way of NOT making it in music is to give up". I stand by this to this day, and offer it as advice to anyone who is considering a career in music. Don't think from the above rant that I will ever stop making music; it's too deep in my bones. But I am finally facing up to the idea that earning a living from it is less likely than winning the lottery. At least, for me, at this stage in my career.

[Guest Mike Indidginus]

What's your artist name? Sounds like you've put some serious effort into your music - it would be cool to hear the results

[soem aeld]

Thanx for the advice!

 

As Mike I, I am also curious on which group you belong to..

Under which name u released stuph...

[Guest Elysium Project]

I can only second your very nice description and say that I have exactly the same expereince in the music indusrty having released 5 album's, lot's of "12's and tracks on many many comp's.

I have had releases hitting the charts and tracks getting airplayed over and over again on national radio stations.

 

What did I get out of it? Absolutely nothing or let's say very little.

 

At the same time as I did not recieve any money from one of my tracks (no. 1 in 15 countries) I saw the label build a $. 100,000 studio and the label managers/owners releasing their own stuff and steal all the DJ/live gigs (I found out when a promoter finally called me privately and asked why I never seemed to have the time to play at his parties in Japan).

 

To me it seem that eighter the labels are too small and do not have enough funding to promote their artists professionally or have no problems keeping a seperate "secret" account book with the actual sale figures.

 

The only solution I can think of (which I finally did in 1997) is to sign up with a Worldwide represented publishing Agency such as in my case Warner/Chappell. The have found out my accurate sale figures via the distributors and I am now finally putting together a picture of how much the labels over the years have cheated me from my royalties.

 

The question now remains if it's finacially safe to sue them.

[shpongled]

Very interesting and good posts.... I would also like to hear your artist name Dr. Downer.... it would give more perspective how hard it is to make a living out of music if we heard that even an artist like you can't make it.

[Guest Dr. Downer]

Look, I don't want to be funny but I'd really rather not tell everyone exactly who I am. I can understand why you all want to know, but...

 

That is REALLY, REALLY not the point of all this!

 

I'm not looking for sympathy here (at least, not in public), and I don't want people going round saying "Hey, have you heard, Simon Posford (or whoever, I should be so fucking lucky) is thinking of giving up music!" [sorry Si, only joking] You never know, I might have a breakthrough and decide not to get a job after all, in which case I won't want something like this hanging over me. Here's hoping.

 

It's just that this has all been building up for me for a while, and God knows I don't want to whinge about things, but it's all got to come out and be expressed somehow. And if I can help temper rampant naivety with a little realism, and help people avoid going into the business with their eyes shut, so much the better.

 

Don't forget, this is all just my (and, it seems, Kristian's) experiences. I hope you all have better luck.

 

Anyway, I'm off to fire up my Mac and get going on this great new track I've started recently. It's fantastic; I've discovered some great new techniques for morphing vocal samples into lead lines and back again. Shame you'll never hear them.

 

Dr. Downer

[Guest kimmz]

Thanks for posting Dr. Downer and Elysium. I think a lot of people reading this thread either have tracks they want out there or are getting serious about making music. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? I'd hate to think artists that have really emerged over the past couple years were either just lucky or are actually getting screwed over and no one knows it except the labels.

[Guest Elysium Project]

If I could do it all over again I would:

 

1. Never sign an exclusive (both your personal name and band name) 5 year deal with just one label. It's so easy to get overentusiastic and forget that you need to let a lawyer take a good look at your contract before you sign it.

 

2. Make sure that the contract (one deal per release) clearly state that the label has an obligation to show you their accounting (signed by a certified accountant) whenever you want to see it.

 

3. Make sure that I am represented by a lawyer and a publishing agency from day 1.

 

Apart from that I would do it all over again with joy :-)

 

I will have to say that I right now am seeking completely new grounds and will start next year to record new music (not goa) which I will release and distribute myself. It's so much easier when you have a name in the business compared to a new band/artists.

[Guest Dr. Downer]

To add to Kristian's comments:

 

1) Learn as much about the industry as you can. Do a music business course, get experience working with a label.

 

2) Join whatever musicians organisations exist in your territory. Quite often they will offer business and legal advice free or at a reduced cost.

 

3) Get someone to represent you to labels, ie a manager. Tricky one this as it needs to be someone who you trust ABSOLUTELY, and preferably someone who knows the business. Make sure they only get paid for the work they themselves find you. Don't pay them any more than 20%. Basically you will get taken more seriously if you can show you are talented and committed enough to get other people involved with you. Get an agreement on paper (5 years max, with an option on both sides) with any manager, maybe after 6 months trial period.

 

4) Hang out with the labels; spend time with them building up a personal relationship. Take no shit, but make sure you are honest and open in your dealings with them.

 

5) Before you sign anything, talk to artists on the label concerned and see how they feel about the label.

 

6) Accept a certain amount of being-ripped-off as a learning experience, or "paying your dues" (you can't avoid it so you might as well make it work for you).

 

7) Don't be the first artist to sign to a new label.

 

8) Ask to see a sample statement and get it checked out by a certified accountant.

 

9) If anyone does try anything shady, be quick, firm, insistent but polite in writing them A LETTER asking them to rectify the situation within 30 days (or whatever you have agreed in your contract). If they still haven't made good, get a lawyer specialising in the music biz on the case QUICKLY.

 

10) Grit your teeth and bend over.

 

Dr. Downer

 

PS Oh yes, never give up! With any luck, at some point you will become well-known and experienced enough that people you deal with will assume you will not stand for any messing about. And with the same amount of luck, this will actually be true. But consider: Why do many of the artists who have have "really emerged" over the past decade release on their own labels? (eg Tristan and Simon Posford, Raja Ram)

[Guest MMIDONTKNOW]

He Sounds like erez aizen from te infected mushroom

[Guest The Nothing]

Dude he said he didnt want to give his name so lets have a little respect and NOT start a guessing competition.

 

Also, from what he has described he sounds nothing like Erez (who has released more than 2 albums). Of course you could just be joking....in which case, very funny. *har* *har*

 

Sorry to hear abouit your misfortune Dr.Downer but your advice is very much apreciated and worthwhile good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Peace

-Dan (The Nothing)

[Guest Gaittins]

Wow! You're scaring the crap out of me man. I have plans to start a label of my own and I'd like American Psy-trance artist to send me their work with confidence that I'll selflessly work to promote them, protect their work and try to earn them a little bread. I don't have quite the illustrious career that you've had but I'm earning a living. I just want to do something that I can believe in. Something that will get me out of the entertainment office that I'm working for and allow me to put food on the table. I don't want to know who you are because I'd probable feel bad for owning your records.

 

Your seventh point scares me. I'm just starting to make my way for pete's sake. Don't tell people not to sign to a new label. It's true I don't know what I'm doing but I'm surley not out to screw anyone.

 

I love this music and have been wanting this not just for me but for the artists whom I believe in. It's hard enough to get people to take me seriously when I haven't done anything like this before. I have alot to learn and the ambition to learn it. I want people to trust me. I don't want them to be suspicious that I'm going to under report sales or liscense their music out without them getting their royalties. It's a big world out there filled with people at different points on the jouney. Please put in a kind word for those of us who are trying to start out.

[Guest Dr. Downer]

Gaittins,

 

Fair play man! Sorry to frighten you... like I said, these are only my experiences and I'm sure not everyone has such bad luck... but it does happen. I'm sure your intentions are good and I'm sure you'll do all you can to ensure your artists have fair and equitable contracts from the very start, and that they recieve every penny owing to them as soon as each accounting period is up...

 

But let me ask you a question...

 

Do you realise how hard it is to stay honest at times when doing so means that you, yourself, will not be able to 'put food on the table' if you do? A hypothetical situation, I know, but one that is more likely for a start-up psy-trance label than I want to say.

 

In my experience the only way you'll be able to pay everyone on time (manufacturer, printer, publicity, distribution, oh yes, and the artist) is to start off with a wad of cash in the first place to use as running capital. This is what Flying Rhino did, and I think it's one of the reasons why they (have) lasted so long. They're rich kids to start off with. Otherwise, you might get to a situation where... ...

 

You get offered a DJ gig in Japan (where they pay very well) because of the two singles you've put out by a certain group, one of whom is a small-time, free-party DJ; talented but unknown except for the two 12" you have released. Who does the gig? You, with your bunch of unreleased music sent to you by hopeful first-timers, your outstanding invoice from the pressing plant and your rent due for next month? Or the guy from the band which is in the process of making your label's reputation (ably assisted by your fine taste in psy, of course)? If you both go, you don't quite cover your rent... ...

 

Ok, I know I'm making it difficult here, but that's kind of what it can be like.

The above happened to me, years ago, and I've only just found out that the label owner from my first label (with whom we were the first signing) was off DJing round Japan for three weeks while we were stuck in... wherever we were (you didn't think I'd slip up that easily, did you? And you can't say he was doing it to help our sales as the album was never released in Japan (as far as I know).

 

I reckon, if you don't want people to mistrust you, there are a couple of things you can do.

 

Firstly, refer them to this thread... let them see for themselves some of the pitfalls in their path, and how you don't want to be part of their problems but someone who can help them and their music.

 

Secondly (and this could be fun), ask them to offer YOU, the label, a contract drawn up by THEIR lawyers, and tell them to make it as fair as possible and to include in it as many safeguards against being ripped off as their lawyers can think of. It will be biassed against the label, of course, but you can negotiate the points that need it, and I believe the end result will be a fairer contract for BOTH parties than is common (and perhaps even possible) today.

 

Go for it. The world needs honest label managers. Good luck; I'm rooting for you. Please, restore my faith in the powers of human integrity against the lure of easy money.

 

Let me know how it goes... maybe we can talk business one day!

 

Dr. Downer

[Guest Elysium Project]

I have nothing to add. Dr. Downer is descriping exactly what I think of the music buiness and me experiences with the "sharks".

 

I too wish you all the best of luck Gaittins and I will also follow your label progression a much a spossible :-)

 

One add to Dr. Drowners advise:

 

A "real" professional and serious label also obligates to pay for the artist's lawyer fee drawing up the contract.

[Guest Gaittins]

Thanks for the input. Your hypothetical situation reflects your experiences and choices that your label had to make. Although I know I'll be presented with some difficult decisions in the future that particular one will not be a problem. As I said we're all at different points on the journey. I won't be cutting any corners with this project. There is no need for me to rush this or be penny wise and dollar foolish.

[Guest popslut]

Dr. Downer

 

Well put. I think you tell it well.