record deal stuff

[fizz]

hiya -
can someone please explain how a record deal works, what do you get paid for, what do they make you do, what are royalties, what kind of royalties do they offer etc,
thanks a lot.
:)

[55'gibby]

I have NEVER been offered a record deal... imagine that!

The way I understand it is the company offers to "loan" you the money to record and produce the record as well as promote and market. You repay them out of the procedes, not until the company is repaid do you have a chance of getting any cash. then you agree to a break down of the profits. Keep in mind that everyone gets a peice,... songwriters, engineers, backup musicians, the company, promotion firms, marketing firms, lawyers, the guy who does the cover art,.... EVERYONE!! how much is decided with in the contract. after everyone gets thier peice you get a percentage of whats left over. By the way, the big bucks to sign a contract is usually offered to stars... not someone just starting out. the royalties are what you get for things like someone else doing one of your songs. residuals is what you get for you record/songs.


do you know what you call a professional musician without a girlfriend


homeless

[fizz]

LOL!
cheers for that gibby :)

[fizz]

so - if i was to promote the band myself, do the marketing, and cover art etc, more money would be given to the band yes?

[55'gibby]

this whole thing boils down to the elements you negotiate in the contract. I am not a laywer, but I play one in my dreams. this thing can work dozens of different ways. if you have a demo, try to shop it around to a label, you'll soon find out why so many bands sell thier CDs at the show.

[mllebois]

The only contract I have is with my gas company, but I have read/seen a few things. The biggest thing is to remember why they call it the music BUSINESS. The record company is only interested in you as long as you generate "product" that sells. If you look at music videos, for example, the production costs are almost always charged back to the artist. That means makeup, special effects, transportation, union wages, chow for the director's pet hampster, you name it. Successful artists are often fronted money against future work, and, unlike the movie business can be held to seven year contracts with one company. ( Thus the artist formerly known as Prince walking around with "Slave" painted on his forehead.) I saw an interview with TLC on tv a year or so ago, and they were explaining how they managed to sell about 10 million albums and still go bankrupt that year. Lisa Lopes said that in their contract, the money was structured in "points", and that there were 100 points in a dollar. TLC got six points out of that 100. Finally, if you do manage to get a recording contract, I would try and control the publishing rights. If you have a number of successful songs/albums, they can be a nice little ongoing source of income. Look at how the Beatles got screwed out of their publishing, and now it's making an &*(!@$$% fortune for Michael Jackson.:mad:

[fizz]

..right!
damn them. damn them all. is there no way that you can make records, without being with a record company? could you do all the business yourself? hire your own engineer, studio, makes Cds, sell them, publicise etc? do you have to be signed? i mean, if you didnt have a cash problem?(of course)

[jaytee]

ok....me....knowing pretty much zero about production and never planning to head that direction.....i just gotta tell you....

seems like all bands pretty much end up in major debt over their first album ...after signing what they thought would change their lives....they find out they more like signed their lives away....

anyways....if you seriously consider producing your own album.....heres what i was told recently...by a guy i know who just signed with an independent label and they just finished laying down tracks out in LA....

he said he walked in this place and saw all the stuff he thought he would...the huge soundboards and rooms full of equipment...these people were professionals who had all quit working for major labels and started up their own...so they personally owned the equipment...but what else he saw shocked him...they didnt use any of it! theyve gone to computers now....everything is being mixed thru one single computer...crazy huh?
he also said that being that this is their first album and they have to keep costs as low as possible....they pretty much had to nail every song.....they couldnt do huge amounts of multiple takes...even tho with that computer you could change just about anything you can imagine about how it sounds...it all takes time and money to alter things...

anyways....not my thing....but i wish you luck...

--jt

[fizz]

oh cool! this means there must be something like this on the internet? my soundcard isnt very good, and i dont think i can run my guitar into the pc, but what programs are out there that can do what jayteen described?
cheers - this really helps :D

[55'gibby]

yes you can do it all yourself.... if you have the equipment. It does require more than just a PC. you have bunches of choices of how to do this. the 2 that make the most sense are:

1) get a digital recording device (like the Yamaha MD8) then take the tracks to your PC for post production editing and burning of the master CD.

2) buy the proper audio card that will have enough ins and outs to accomodate what your inputing. then use your PC like a mixing board and post production work. then burn your master.

from there you can take it to a place that will burn all the copies you need (for a moderate price). after that it's up to you to sell, promote, market or anything else you want to do with the CDs

the down side is neither of these are "cheap" to do. either way you can expect to spend about $700-$1000 just to get started (not counting guitars, drum, amps....). I am going the first route, I'm not quite ready to beging recording and I have about 2 grand tied up in it.

the upside is that you have almost total control over everything from price to content to design. and the profits are yours to split up as YOU choose. So next time your at a show (like one of mine say) buy the CD if you liked what they played.

[55'gibby]

just to put the monies into perspective studio time runs $55 - $75 an hour around here, less the cost of engineers et al

[fizz]

Cool - once again, thanks
thats quite expensive!
studio time here is £5-10 an hour! incl equipment!

[55'gibby]

$7.50 to $15 an hour????...... MAN, I HAVE TO GO TO THE UK!!!

[fizz]

lol!
obviously it varies place to place :) so far as hygiene goes its not the best studio, smells of smoke and illegal substances most of the time :)
the good ones go for around £1000 a day? not too sure!

[se77en]

this is great....I now understand why so many bands stay "local" bands....lol

My suggestion to you fizz is this: There are books available at musiciansfriend.com that talk about record deals and how to get one, and extactly what goes on and how everything works...written by professionals in the industry. It might be in everyones best interest to check those books out if you plan on making a life outta playing and recording music. Obviously there is just not enough space here to explain exactly how everything works and what exactly goes on.

[fizz]

hehehe.
i think ill do that. Cheers.

[mllebois]

Se77en makes a good point. Find out everything you can, educate yourself on the ins and outs of the business. Too many performers have worked their butts off, only to wind up with jack when their careers are over. When you have the money everybody wants to be your friend and help you look after it, the next thing you know, you haven't got a dime. It's your money and you have to keep track of it yourself, or at least keep track of the people you've hired. Because, believe me, they'll take their cut and more if they think you don't know any better. Kind of a cynical way to think, but you can probably name five artists in five seconds who declared bankruptcy, or who wind up suing their bandmates, or their label, or manager. The list of parasites is long when you're on the top.:(