(US)
Ten (10) Song Album = $.72 - 50,000 US copies sold = $36,000.00 (USC) to each of the above!
Details are linked below - read all 30+ articles!
Burley Watson, NASHVILLE, TN
Getting a Recording Contract is the dream of everyone who has been bitten by the roar of the grease paint and the smell of the crowd since Edison invented the phonograph.
Those who 'go to (name the music capitol) to get a break' should realize they may very well be the best 'talent' their home town has ever seen but in Nashville, New York or Hollywood they are just one more jerk looking for a handout!
Only one out of ten thousand ever even get to work on a distributed product. About the same number ever get a chance to 'road band' with an Artist on a distributed label. One out of ten thousand odds while you're starving on the street isn't exactly paradise terms.
Even those who manage to gin-mill enough to keep themselves in boiled eggs and a rat's nest never bankroll sufficient funds to make acceptable demos, let alone pay their share of a distributed record. For the most part they could do far better right there at home. Should someone from a 'label' or 'production company' observe them as being a potential monetary threat to any of their investments: the sign-them-to-a-contract scam is on in all it's full fury! But if you're stupid enough to be in one of the so-called Music Capitols 'to be discovered', they already know you're too stupid to be any threat at all and they don't have to waste one penny on you!
The 'sweetheart' contract is one that fulfills all the myths and delusions about the Industry: (1) It costs the artist nothing; and that's exactly how much the artist will get paid regardless of how many copies the record sells; (2) It takes all the artist's original compositions and song ideas; and retains them until the record company's 'investment' is paid in full; and (3) Any and all Artist's earnings are charged back until the record company's 'investment' is paid in full; and (4) The record company can continue to run up debt against the Artist as long as necessary!
If there's an album involved, rather than a single or 'demo' session (why a record company needs a demo of its own acts for its own use is ludicrous) there is probably a "tour to promote the record" somewhere in the fine print.
Now think about that. When anyone buys a ticket to a concert it's to see an Artist whose recordings have made them famous, not some jerk hawking records nobody ever heard tell of! The real reason for the 'tour' is to guarantee the jerk will be head banging a gig somewhere in the dark regions of Swamptown when the Artist they might have infringed on plays The Grand Palace in Tinsel Ville.
And it's no more complicated than that!
Any and all such 'sweetheart' contracts are shelving (the record company can put the product on the shelf for as long as it likes) contracts designed for the sole and exclusive purpose of being a very inexpensive insurance policy!
There's no such thing as insurance on a record project, especially for ROI (Return On Investment), and the only recourse to protect a working investment is to shelve contract any and all real competition that's ignorant enough to sign. The fact it's legal doesn't change the immorality of it one bit.
In an honest ExܥeCAP, BMI and SESAC!">
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The cold, hard facts of Recorded Music from Songwriting through Stardom!
Exposing the scams, harpooning the song-sharks, blowing the myths,
stripping the lies, and naming the names!
Explaining the "why" of the what-won't-work scenarios!
Step-by-step "How To Do It!" for those few who really want to succeed!
IN OPEN CONSPIRACY AGAINST SONGWRITERS, PUBLISHERS! BOTH Caught In blatant, open collusion! Hide behind Official Powers of Office! General Bobby Farrell of 'false', 'irresponsible', accusations! |
What to avoid: any contract that costs you nothing and doesn't spell out the vast array of limitations inferred above; and any contract with any Label that isn't licensed and distributed by one of The Super Nine General Licensers and carries the Licenser's logo on its label.
Facts & Figures: The U.S. Copyright Office averages processing some thirty five thousand music copyrights each and every WEEK, fifty two weeks a year! About fifteen percent are renewals, leaving about thirty thousand copyrights per week covering brand new material. The average copyright for music covers TEN POINT THREE (10.3) songs for a total of 15,934,100 brand new songs each and every year!
Facts & Figures: The Super Nine General Licensers release about 2,500 albums per year combined, each containing an average of TEN songs. That's a total of some 25,000 songs. However, about one third of those 25,000 album inclusions are re-caps of previously released material, leaving only about 17,300 new compositions recorded and released per year out of 15,934,100 written per year! No wonder the song sharks have huge schools of fish to feed on!
Facts & Figures: Only one out of eight distributed albums ever sells any copies at all. Non-distributed (independent label) albums manage only about one tenth of one percent (.001%) of total commercial sales. Only one out of eighty singles ever sell any copies at all except as album outcues. A few Foreign Countries still buy 45RPM single records but most prefer cassettes, and there are some 13,500,000 jukeboxes still in operation (1994) using the old 45s. And a few thousand still using 78s!
Facts & Figures: The optimum running time for any record is UNDER three minutes and thirty seconds! The reason is: cost of radio air time! The average United States radio rotation of a record is 8 times a day 7 days a week for 6 weeks; the average cost of a thirty second spot commercial is $25.00; making the average station's air time investment in each and every :30 of a song's running time $8,400.00 over the six week life of the average song!
Facts & Figures: The Golden Rule: Those who have the Gold make The Rules! And it's never more true than in the multi-billion dollar recorded music Industry and especially where the 'waiting to be discovereds' are concerned.
Facts & Figures: About 99% of all established Artists at one time recorded on a small label, and 99% of those will return to Indie labels before they retire. And the most successful avoided 'sweetheart' contracts from day one. It was easy enough, they just didn't expect someone else to finance their pipe dream.
VERIFICATION & DOCUMENTATION & Other Info LINKS PAGE.
Court Approved LEGALIZED THIEVERY!
Recording Contracts, THEY'RE AVAILABLE!
Executive Producer vs 'PAYING FOR PUBLISHING'!
Real & Phony Charts - RADIO & SALES!
Who to Trust, Who NOT to Trust - SONGWRITER ASSOCIATION SCAMS!
Shelving Contracts, CAREER NIGHTMARE! What to look for - What to Avoid.
Industry Ignorance vs Paranoia, TURKEY LIST - How to avoid it!
Publishing Contracts - PRICELESS & WORTHLESS!
Music Publishers vs Labels vs General Licensers! - NOT THE SAME THING!
Before you Record - WHAT WON'T WORK! Kiss-Of-Death elements to avoid!
The Industry's BEST & WORST DEAL!
General Licenser's FINANCIAL SUPPORT! How To Get It!
World Wide DISTRIBUTION for your Label! It's available!
Check out Vandor Music Group HOME PAGE! Nothing fancy - Just WHAT WILL WORK! And, they're signing Producers and Production Companies to produce directly on to the Vandor Family of labels!
World Wide PROMOTION for your music! It's available, too! WorldPromo HOME PAGE. Take a minute to review the NORTH AMERICAN RADIO PROGRAMMER! It covers every radio station in Canada, United States, Mexico, all of Central America and all the Caribbean Islands for less than the postage to cover just the Country stations in the U.S. And it's a wide open AAA format that all hot broadcasters love!
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