I was wondering if you veterans that have a lot of releases under your belt have any advice for newer artists on how to negotiate with labels. Lets say a good label like Monster Tunes for example wants to sign your track and send you an offer. What are some things to ask them? Some things come to mind such as: When will the release date be? and so on.. also , what if you would like to get more than what they offered... a little more advanced money or a better share of the royalties for example.

If the tracks are really good and they are really interested. What is a fair amount of upfront money a label would offer? $200-300 or something around there? Does this price vary if it is a single or EP (2 tracks) ?

Any good advice or tips from people with experience would be great

I have only had 3 releases 2 out now and one pending. i have however had a few agreements that i have turned down.

One agreement had a clause which gave the label an 'option' over my music for 5 years where they could sign anything of mine before i offer to anyone else. So i turned that down.

A guy said to me recently that you should ask what they intend to do with your music. Sounds simple but for all intents andpurposes they could just be planning to put it for sale online which will sell approx zero copies! Do they have a promtion plan? which dj's can they get to support? are they going to promote you? what can they bring as their part of the deal.

Remember you are giving them your music and usually 50% of the sales what are they giving you? Some labels think its good enough just to put their name on something and if they are huge then ok fair enough but if they are not then why give them your music?

You can self release easy enough keeping 100%. What i am saying is the label get a lot out of you and if they are not contributing back then its not worth it.

I have not been offered an advance but it does happen bt i think rarely and not unless you have some previous success.

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find a friend who is an actual producer or label owner and have them look over things. Your first deal wont be the best, if its a good label, should make up for it. Look to get better deals after you get your foot in the door.

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Last edited by Kismet7 on Sep-24-2009 at 16:01

Most of the time you don't get anything to negotiate (talking about bigger labels), since they use a standard contract form, until you prove your productions stellar, you won't get any special treatment and/or advances, forget about that.

Standard royalties for online sales are 50%, and 16% for physical mediums.
Be sure to check the contract for royalties from compilations and other licensing stuff, since if there are none present, you get jack shit even though you're featured on every compilation on the world from today on.

But, talk to your contact a lot. Always keep in touch about your productions, remix opportunities and everything, since most of the stuff is still by word of mouth and it's cool to be cool with your label contact, if they know you're a cool geeza, you'll get your foot in the door where you would otherwise not.

Ask them about promotion, their promo pool, and general exposure you'll be getting. That's usually non-existant with one-man-labels (not worth bothering with imo), be aware.

Always realize that your first few releases are checking grounds and promotion risk from the label side; they'll probably run their best promotion machines for a newly signed artist, if it fails, well.. Imagine.

Take care in what you do, understand that people in bigger labels are professionals and will do the best for your track (since it's benefiting them), just take everything they say with a grain of salt, since some tend to bullshit a little, but mostly, believe in your music and stand behind it, and always show a firm face to them.

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quote:

Originally posted by Tarpex and always show a firm face to them.

The above is the key. It's your music if you're not getting at the minimum an equal deal gtfo. A release is nothing in itself. It's the promotion and exposure/notoriety that you'll gain that is the key. If you're not gonna get it then hold onto the tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by Tarpex Most of the time you don't get anything to negotiate (talking about bigger labels), since they use a standard contract form, until you prove your productions stellar, you won't get any special treatment and/or advances, forget about that. Standard royalties for online sales are 50%, and 16% for physical mediums. Be sure to check the contract for royalties from compilations and other licensing stuff, since if there are none present, you get jack shit even though you're featured on every compilation on the world from today on. But, talk to your contact a lot. Always keep in touch about your productions, remix opportunities and everything, since most of the stuff is still by word of mouth and it's cool to be cool with your label contact, if they know you're a cool geeza, you'll get your foot in the door where you would otherwise not. Ask them about promotion, their promo pool, and general exposure you'll be getting. That's usually non-existant with one-man-labels (not worth bothering with imo), be aware. Always realize that your first few releases are checking grounds and promotion risk from the label side; they'll probably run their best promotion machines for a newly signed artist, if it fails, well.. Imagine. Take care in what you do, understand that people in bigger labels are professionals and will do the best for your track (since it's benefiting them), just take everything they say with a grain of salt, since some tend to bullshit a little, but mostly, believe in your music and stand behind it, and always show a firm face to them.

Thanks, great reply here

email me with your specific questions and I will do my best to answer them. I can provide you some material, such as contracts to look at, to give you an idea of how things work. The main thing I stress is communication. Artists (and anybody) don't like to be ignored. Especially when you have exclusively signed their music and the responsibility of distributing it properly and promoting it properly is square on your shoulders.


Communication is key to developing a strong artist base which is essential for a label. I'd consider myself friends with half the people on my label as a result of this. It creates a great environment.

You will find that it's very difficult when starting. I started my label in probably the worst time in history to start a label (November 2008) - The economy was awful, music sales were historically the worse they had ever been (and continue to get worse) - You're going to have to make a splash to get distributors, label aggregators, and artists on board. For me, music is my passion so I didn't mind eating chalk and shelling out over 4 figures to get the label moving. I'm used to having high music bills. I use to buy vinyl (and a lot of it!)


If you're in this for the money, don't even bother. There is no money in music right now. I wish I could say otherwise but I would be lying. The money can and will come eventually, but don't expect any for at least a year (that's not to say you won't land a big hit)

I was offered 4 figures for the very first track I ever signed. I did have some money in it, but would have made quite a bit off it. Most would have said yes, I think. I said no and this was not your average producer. He's in the top 100 list of "DJ's" - He's an old school DJ that I have vinyl of and think very highly of, which made it even more difficult, but it was my first sign so there was a lot of sentimental value. Plus, it was a great track and helped to launch the label quite well. I bought in Mango and Underwater for remixes and it turned out ok. It didn't come close to making it's money back, but it did OK, and you never know down the road what is going to happen so maybe one day I will have made it all back. That's the beauty of signing music exclusively. You basically own it. But the biggest thing the release did was create that splash I was talking about which allowed me to come at artists/distributors with a better portfolio.

Again, email me if you have any specific questions. Please be very specific.

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