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About signing a contract...
Hi guys, I have been send a contract of a record label, or to be more specific, a 'deal memo'.
now I am not familiar with these sort of things, and I could use some help of people who have been confronted with contracts themselves and would be willing to look over this contract ( it's not more than 1,5 page, so it wont take long).
I won't post it in here, since that seems pretty unusual to me,
but if you think you can help me, pls contact me on [email protected] or PM me.
thanks in advance,
greetings Mark Sixma
the best thing would be to contact a lawyer about this too look it over for you or at least let someone that has studied law look over it.
although I don't doubt that people here can help ya but it just seems like a smarter thing to do than to take it with someone that you don't even know 
don't you know anyone that has a background with lawstudies or similar?
I went to a friend that is an ex district attorney but u can take it to almost anyone that vizay said.
I have always been interested in how this proccess works...so what happens? they send you a contract via mail and you look over it and sign, then send it back? This might sound stupid since its a very simpe process but i realy don't know.
yeah that's about how it seems to work, it's my first time also, so can't see if it is generally done this way
I do have a lot of relatives and friends of my parents who studied law, and are like highly placed judges, but the problem is, this is rather specialistic, and on top of it, it is international.
So they can help me only a bit. I got an address of some sort of union for artist. I will try that as well, but I thought, it might be good, to hear from other artists too.
as far as I know this is how it works yeah. You get a contract sent over to ya, you sign it and send it back and it's done.
Hi,
I have a background with law studies, but I think I'd better not give you any advice regarding that contract. One major problem for people in most European countries is the confrontation with English (or why not American) labels, who of course want you to sign a contract that is purely common law (UK civil law differs quite a lot from e.g. Nordic or Continental European law), something which isn't really used outside countries like the UK and the US. Critical points to look out for in the contract: forum-clauses (=what forum/court to use in a possible dispute situation), type of law-clauses (=which law is applied). Another thing is to look out for is "moral rights", a part of the copyright that according to Continental European jurisprudence can't be transfered to any 3rd person, for example a record label. I don't know what UK common law says about this, though.
First off, a deal memo usually isn't a contract per se, its an outline of the contract that they want you to sign.
Secondly, you're not "selling" your track, you're LICENSING it, keep that in mind. If they want you to sell it, tell them to piss off.
Third, find out the following information:
Time period- How long are you licensing it for. NEVER license it in perpetuity, that's just like selling it.
Advance- Are they paying you up front, and if so, how much.
Royalty rate- Percentage points. Are you getting dealer price points or retail points, and how many points?
Territories- Where is the label going to license it. Keep in mind, that if you license it to one label in France, you can license it to other labels in other countries. MAKE THEM GIVE YOU SPECIFICS!!
3rd party rights- Gives the label the right to sub license your track to another label if they can't keep up with production demand.
Remix Approval- Gives you the right to say yes or no to remixes.
Don't sign under your legal name if you can avoid it, sign it with a production alias, that way you're free to license other tracks to other labels
Get a lawyer who to look over the contract no matter what.
[DUTCH]
Ik heb al enige contracten voorbij zien komen, omdat ik zelf al wat tracks heb uitgebracht. Ik wil er best even naar kijken voor je
Mail me op [email protected]
[/DUTCH]
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Pimp_fu First off, a deal memo usually isn't a contract per se, its an outline of the contract that they want you to sign. Secondly, you're not "selling" your track, you're LICENSING it, keep that in mind. If they want you to sell it, tell them to piss off. Third, find out the following information: Time period- How long are you licensing it for. NEVER license it in perpetuity, that's just like selling it. Advance- Are they paying you up front, and if so, how much. Royalty rate- Percentage points. Are you getting dealer price points or retail points, and how many points? Territories- Where is the label going to license it. Keep in mind, that if you license it to one label in France, you can license it to other labels in other countries. MAKE THEM GIVE YOU SPECIFICS!! 3rd party rights- Gives the label the right to sub license your track to another label if they can't keep up with production demand. Remix Approval- Gives you the right to say yes or no to remixes. Don't sign under your legal name if you can avoid it, sign it with a production alias, that way you're free to license other tracks to other labels Get a lawyer who to look over the contract no matter what. |
Thanks a lot for the info guys!
really appreciated a lot!
also the guys who emailed me, thanks!
greets Mark Sixma
when my band was signed ia contract i remember our band and our lawyer met with the C.E.O. of the lable and his lawyer . .then we reviewed the terms and all the bullshit of this long ass contract. then a week or so later we went back in, after going over it more with our lawyer and he spending a lot of time sifting, and signed it etc.
i guess it could work both ways though . . just be absolutely shure you understand everything in the contract 10000000% as to not get fuckd over by them.
only problem is that the trance market is much bigger in europe and the UK than in North America so for guys like us that are sending out our tracks to euro and uk labels, which is the smarter thing to do in my opinion, because of a much bigger demand for trance music. By doing this it becomes harder to meet face to face with lables. This was what I initially wanted to know from this thread..if it was essentialy "have too" to meet with the lable.
Not usually. Besides, if they want what you have, they'll find a way to make it happen for you.
well I haven't had the honour of getting signed yet so I wouldn't know.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Pimp_fu Not usually. Besides, if they want what you have, they'll find a way to make it happen for you. |
| quote: |
| Don't sign under your legal name if you can avoid it, sign it with a production alias, that way you're free to license other tracks to other labels |
), so make sure you get what you want with the contract.
yikes
u guys are really scaring off these guys hehe, ur talking like every label is against u, 
u could just read the contract
if u dont understand go to a lawyer, otherwise its not so complicated :S
but all the good things were posted here already, not much more to add, just dont make it seem so frustrating to get signed :S
PS: if its some well known big label , i assume theyre not after u or against u 
with all due respect; labels should be approached with healthy paranoia... they're in it for the money...
another tip: if they advance you, make sure it is nun-refundable (if sales are disappointing, you can keep the advance).
Or: they will project sky high sales (= high royalties) and thereby persuade you to accept a low advance. And guess what: some time later, sales are just soooo disappointingly low...
so at least make sure you keep as much artisitical ownership as possible.
I rememebr one time when I licensed a track to an Ibiza mix album; by the time they had to pay out royalties, they liquidated their Ltd. company and started a new one...
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