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questions about my first contract

Hey,

I just received my first contract from a label, and have very little experience in law, particularly music licenses lol, so i was just wondering if any of you guys could give me a hand with some of this terminology:

1) The length of the contract is the life of copyright. i guess this is absolutely normal but just want to check haha.

2) Royalty rate is 50-50. ive heard this is normal, but after that it says "third party" is 50-50

3) what are "options"? this license says "a further 3"

4) remixes of my track will "be paid 100% recoupable". What does this mean?

would appreciate any advice you guys can give me on this

thanks a lot!
Alex

i think you should seek out a little more professional advice...doesn't sound like you have any idea what you'e signing...

Do yourself a favour and get a consultation with a lawyer...

Actually signing with a reliable label shoudlnt get you in trouble, but just in case...it's better to have a lawyer check out your contract...Hell I've even done that with my job contract...(not music)

4) means : you will have to repay the amount that will be given to you as an advance. You'll start making a profit when sales of the record has paid the debt.

never heard of a 50/50 royalty rate. 20% for the artist is already rare.
Do you have to pay for expenses as well ? Also, you'll need a manager, a music lawyer, and an accountant at the end of the tax year(legal&compulsory)

Re: questions about my first contract

quote:

Originally posted by theholyalex Hey, I just received my first contract from a label, and have very little experience in law, particularly music licenses lol, so i was just wondering if any of you guys could give me a hand with some of this terminology: 1) The length of the contract is the life of copyright. i guess this is absolutely normal but just want to check haha. 2) Royalty rate is 50-50. ive heard this is normal, but after that it says "third party" is 50-50 Third party is from compilations/licencing to outside the label. 3) what are "options"? this license says "a further 3" This means that they want to be able to claim your next 3 tracks 4) remixes of my track will "be paid 100% recoupable". What does this mean? This means that the costs for remixes will be paid out of your income would appreciate any advice you guys can give me on this thanks a lot! Alex

Seek out professional advice, because I am positive you are missing important stuff. The first contract a label presents you is always full of b/s.

Does music really sell so much that using a lawyer etc can be profitable.. i doubt it.

quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Does music really sell so much that using a lawyer etc can be profitable.. i doubt it.

its not terribly expensive to get someone to look over a contract...

quote:

Originally posted by Floorfiller its not terribly expensive to get someone to look over a contract...

it's $200.00 an hour but most contracts will be corrected in 30min or less(my own business outside of music requires a lot of contract review).

1.) you're signing your track to the length of the copyright which is either until you die or 75yrs
2.) royalty right - i assume they're talking about compilations, they'll split any proceeds beyond them that try and license the track 50/50 withyou
3.) i don't understand what you're asking
4.) once the label has broke even on its spending to get the track profitable the proceeds will then start to be split

cheers guys, dont wanna sound like im disregarding your advice (i REALLY appreciate it) but i dont have money atm to consult with a lawyer, the label itself is well respected and after some more research on the internet im quite happy signing to this label,

thanks very much again!
Alex

it's not about the respectability of a label. You have to understand that contracts are negotiable, and in the music industry it is just standard to have stuff scrapped from the first version of your contract.

Re: questions about my first contract

1) The length of the contract is the life of copyright. i guess this is absolutely normal but just want to check haha.

Depends on what it's based, but this means that the label becomes master owner of the rights for a period of 100 years unless they give them to you afterwards, what happens quite often.

2) Royalty rate is 50-50. ive heard this is normal, but after that it says "third party" is 50-50

3rd party: compilations, licenses, everything that's not being physically released by the label itself. 50/50 is a good deal.

3) what are "options"? this license says "a further 3"

I have doubts, either it's an option on the next 2 singles under this project name, or the next 3 ones. So this basically means you MUST offer at least 2 or 3 new singles under that name to the company FIRST and that the company has the right to refuse them until it judges you have made decent ones to be released (which isn't a big deal)

4) remixes of my track will "be paid 100% recoupable". What does this mean?

this means that remixes that you get will be partially or totally financed by the releases.


This is a quite standard contract actually. What's your standard royalty rate for in-house releases? MAKE SURE IT IS MENTIONED on the contract, otherwise the label won't owe you any money for the vinyl sales and in-house compils AND WEB SALES! Don't forget publishing either, otherwise no MCPS author rights for you.

L.

Make sure you keep the publishing rights.

quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Does music really sell so much that using a lawyer etc can be profitable.. i doubt it.

Yeah...

In this day and age, I don't even understand why people even still have labels except for vinyl pressing and distribution/marketing... neither of which most digital labels will do well for you.

May as well just market and distribute yourself, because no one cares more about your music than you do. Plus, you get 100% profits... if there are profits. =)

Just my two cents.

what exactly does the publishing rights entail?

cheers guys, appreciate this lol
Alex

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Shibby Yeah... In this day and age, I don't even understand why people even still have labels except for vinyl pressing and distribution/marketing... neither of which most digital labels will do well for you. May as well just market and distribute yourself, because no one cares more about your music than you do. Plus, you get 100% profits... if there are profits. =) Just my two cents.

This would be the ideal situation, but how do you market yourself? For distributing, there are several options, like a website, or a 3rd party site. I got with a little digital label just to get my tracks on the distribution sites, like beatport, audiojelly, Itunes, ect. I looked over the contract, but I didn't get a lawyer to look at it. I personally know one of the label's A&R guys though, so I feel I can trust them.

The label I'm on does a bit of promoting, and they have a small following that includes some working DJs. Somehow, they got Armin himself to listen to a few tracks. The guy that runs the label is very motivated, and good at networking. Honestly, I think I would do worse if I tried to promote and distribute myself. First of all, how would I get on all the major distribution sites without a label? Starting one's own label sounds like a headache I don't want.

If we can all be successfully distributing and promoting on our own, please tell us how to go about it. I would give my tracks out for free at this point, if I knew enough people would want them. Seems when you give something out for free, people won't even take a look, because they think it's probably crap. Can't blame them on that. The backing of a label, even a small digital one, makes it appear you at least have something worth looking at.

quote:

Originally posted by zodiac9 This would be the ideal situation, but how do you market yourself? For distributing, there are several options, like a website, or a 3rd party site. I got with a little digital label just to get my tracks on the distribution sites, like beatport, audiojelly, Itunes, ect. I looked over the contract, but I didn't get a lawyer to look at it. I personally know one of the label's A&R guys though, so I feel I can trust them. The label I'm on does a bit of promoting, and they have a small following that includes some working DJs. Somehow, they got Armin himself to listen to a few tracks. The guy that runs the label is very motivated, and good at networking. Honestly, I think I would do worse if I tried to promote and distribute myself. First of all, how would I get on all the major distribution sites without a label? Starting one's own label sounds like a headache I don't want. If we can all be successfully distributing and promoting on our own, please tell us how to go about it. I would give my tracks out for free at this point, if I knew enough people would want them. Seems when you give something out for free, people won't even take a look, because they think it's probably crap. Can't blame them on that. The backing of a label, even a small digital one, makes it appear you at least have something worth looking at.

Yeah, that's the issue: networking and finding the people you need to find.

But honestly, it's just about persistence and dedication. Remember, these 10,000 label owners all need to get their music out there, and DJs need new music to play... no one is going to listen to a good track and ignore it if it suits their style, which is what it's all about : efficiently and aggressively getting yourself out there to the right people.

Send Armin an E-Mail, or whoever it is you want to hear your track.. remember that there are a million clubs and DJs out there. You'd be surprised how well that works... this is what your label's distribution guys are going to do for you, at the cost of 50%. You know how you want to spend your time and what's valuable to you, so it's your call whether that's a great money-saving idea or a waste of precious time.

As for getting on Beatport and stuff... that's easy. Once you got your personal label setup, you can start selling through them by getting in contact with their marketing guys.

There's a pretty big illusion in the underground scenes (that's our scenes mostly xD) that you can get rich off of making tunes and that you need a big label to get your sound out there. Maybe that's because that's how pop music works... but things are changing, and our scene has always been pretty independent from the start.

And of course, not everyone is successful; a little luck helps.

Just my opinion of course...

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Shibby Yeah, that's the issue: networking and finding the people you need to find. But honestly, it's just about persistence and dedication. Remember, these 10,000 label owners all need to get their music out there, and DJs need new music to play... no one is going to listen to a good track and ignore it if it suits their style, which is what it's all about : efficiently and aggressively getting yourself out there to the right people. Send Armin an E-Mail, or whoever it is you want to hear your track.. remember that there are a million clubs and DJs out there. You'd be surprised how well that works... this is what your label's distribution guys are going to do for you, at the cost of 50%. You know how you want to spend your time and what's valuable to you, so it's your call whether that's a great money-saving idea or a waste of precious time. As for getting on Beatport and stuff... that's easy. Once you got your personal label setup, you can start selling through them by getting in contact with their marketing guys. There's a pretty big illusion in the underground scenes (that's our scenes mostly xD) that you can get rich off of making tunes and that you need a big label to get your sound out there. Maybe that's because that's how pop music works... but things are changing, and our scene has always been pretty independent from the start. And of course, not everyone is successful; a little luck helps. Just my opinion of course...

What you say makes a whole lot of sense. I think I was coming to the same conclusion, just slowly, and maybe I didn't even fully realize it till now. For a while now, I've been giving tracks to a couple of DJs I know, and they play them in their sets. I've been considering sending my tracks out to well-known DJs, ones that I think will play them. This seems the way to go, and besides, hearing my tracks in a DJ set is rewarding. I will wait a while to email armin, don't think I'm ready for that yet. I'm realizing now that even if you choose to be on a label, you still need to promote yourself. The labels, especially the small ones, aren't going to help you much in that area. I need to get off my ass and start networking.

Are their any fees involved with getting an account with a major distributor like beatport or audiojelly? How bout starting a label? I'm guessing business license fees are involved. It just sounds intimidating to someone like me who has no business sense.

I am going to sound like a search button whore but that's not what I mean by this.

The internet has a lot of contracts and legal documents and there are people who can explain this perhaps a little better than we can.

Forgive me for asking this as you probably did state this but is this for vinyl or for digital?

The other thing, did I understand this correctly, are you paying for the remixes out of revenue? If that is the case you need to renegotiate on that point as that is not a very good deal, especially if they charge you a lot of money. If they are going to charge you it has to be with a well known name, and even then it's really they who should be chucking up the dosh.

A lot of times they will give it to a mate anyway who will do it on the cheap and will make bugger all difference to the impact of your release. Watch out for that one.

Cheers
Nem

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