When doing business in any field of work, contracts and other formal agreements are commonly used to define relationships, expectations, and responsibilities. The recording industry is no different. However, in the music business people make money off an intangible products, like music and the use of an artist's likeness. So contracts are a MAJOR part of a working entertainer's life. Yet, for some reason, many musicians end up in crappy recording deals that aren't lucrative for them, as if having some sort of a deal is better than waiting on a good one. I do not subscribe to that philosophy. To hell with that.
In this day and age, there's no excuse for rushing into a crappy contract. Even if you end up compromising more than you initially planned, you have to make a contract work for you. Having a good lawyer is imperative, and saying that you can't afford one is no excuse because there are organizations that will provide lawyers based upon your income. I'm in the midst of negotiating 2 different contractual agreements right now, and although my lawyer is handling it for me, me having an understanding of what I want and what's being asked of me in the agreement helps her be able to negotiate on my behalf. I'd like to share with you a few things that I've seen happen as it relates to contracts, in hopes that you or the local rapper you love won't end up in a shady situation.
The following is a recount of actual events. I'm retelling actual conversations and a couple emails, so some of it has been paraphrased.
1. The F@cked Artist.
HIM: "Nikki, I'm so f@cked. They gave me all that money when I signed with them and they wanna recoup all of it before I see another dime."
ME: "What happened to the money they gave you when you signed?"
HIM: "I didn't know that I had to pay for all the recording costs."
ME: "Did your lawyer put it in the contract that they recording money would not come out of your signing bonus?"
HIM: "No... honestly, I just let my manager handle the contract, I didn't get a lawyer."
ME: "Whyyyyy?"
HIM: "Because I know them. I trusted them."
He has spent the vast majority of his money on living expenses, clothes, travel, etc. and is now responsible for paying for the recording expenses for his album. If he can not find the money to pay for his album, he'll leave himself open to be sued.
2. The Beneficiary
ME: "So when you dropped those chicks from your label, did you still use the songs that you did with them?
HIM: "Of course. I own them."
ME: "You own the rights to the songs that they wrote?"
HIM: "I told them to get a lawyer. Its not my fault they didn't."
He'd signed 2 artists to his label, and after a dispute led to him wanting to end their business relationship, he was able to walk away with the rights to all of the music, including publishing. They'd granted him these rights in the recording contract they'd signed with him... without consulting a lawyer first.
3. The Replaceable Diva
ME: "Whatever happened to _____ and her single? Did it ever come out?"
HIM: "Oh, you didn't hear about her? She got dropped from her label."
ME: "What?!? Why?"
HIM: "She wouldn't lose wight, so they got rid of her."
ME: "But what about all the money they spent promoting her?"
HIM: "The label owns the song. They're just gonna lift her vocals off of it and have another girl sing it."
ME: "She doesn't own any rights to the song at all?"
HIM: "Nope. She doesn't even own the rights to her vocals."
The artist's label owned exclusive rights to the single, and after she wouldn't lose weight, they got rid of her and kept the song. They even owned her name.
4. The Rapper On The Shelf
HIM: "I have a deal on the table with ____, but the label I'm signed to won't let me out of my contract."
ME: "So what can you do?"
HIM: "I don't know. My label won't put my album out, but they won't let me go. The guy who was working the deal got locked up, so I'm stuck."
ME: "But you got an album done right?"
HIM: "Yeah, but I should have had it in my contract that if they don't get an album released within a certain time, that I can get out of my contract."
Basically, his label considered him to be valuable enough to keep, because they'd already invested some money into building a buzz around him. However, for some reason, they were unwilling to let him out of his contract. (Eventually, a couple years later, they let him out of the contract. But his buzz had died down substantially, so now he's pretty much starting from scratch.)
5. The Big Payback
ME: "I just called _____ and his phone is cut off."
HIM: "That's because ____ is broke!"
ME: "How is he broke already and they just got a signing bonus?"
HIM: "His management used that money to recoup the money they spent on the album."
ME: "I thought that money was supposed to be for promoting _____'s album."
HIM: "Thats what they thought, too. But his management wanted their money back, so now nobody knows where the money is supposed to come from to promote the record."
ME: "Why didn't his people just wait and recoup their money from the record's sales?"
HIM: "Because its too much of a risk. And when ____ had to payback his management, he had to pay additional money, too. When his management made the investment they expected a certain amount back. So once the money came in, they pulled out. They don't care about ____'s album. They care about their money. That's just business."
And what happened to my friend's album? It never came out. He got dropped from the label, and he's still striving to get ahead. Perhaps allowing his manager to also be his sole investor wasn't the best decision.
What do all of these stories have in common? The artists are the ones who got screwed. And that screw job could have been avoided if the artists would have protected themselves better within their contractual agreements. Whenever a person drafts a contract, the agreement is written to be in the interests of he person who drafted it. Its the other party's responsibility to negotiate the contract and to make the agreement equitable for them. That doesn't mean that compromises won't have to be made, nothing good in life comes without some measure of sacrifice. But when an artist doesn't even take the proper steps to protect themselves in an agreement, then who's to blame, the company that present the lop-sided contract or the artist who signed it?
There are organizations that help artists protect their rights, and they do so for cheap or for free. Lawyers for the Creative Arts provides many legal services pro bono, depending on an artist's income. They helped me avoid signing a crappy contract before I had a steady income. They were very professional, and I learned a lot in the time I worked with them.
I didn't write this to scare any artists out of signing a deal that they've been offered. All I'm saying is each individual should be careful what they commit themselves to, because if you sign your soul away, nobody is at fault but you.
Filed under: friendly advice
Tags: Nikki Lynette
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Garrard, u're so supportive :o)