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Bad Label Management?
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| Number2 |
Hey guys,
I'm a regular poster on the forum but I don't really want my name on this one. Looking for some serious advice though.
I submitted a demo to a pretty legit label by a top 100 DJ and got the bite to sign it. Provided a second track for a B side, signed the contract and waited.
Waited a few weeks and got a reply back saying they wanted a Remastered version of track 1, but with the bass beefed up just a bit.
So that made me realize i had to do my own mastering, so i went ahead, got that taken care of and sent it back out.
The next email i got is what blows my mind and im not sure what to do.
"At _insert time here_ you need to add a new lead"
I've talked to a couple guys in the industry and they have told me that this is poor label management, and that i should basically tell the label that I have already signed the contract, and that the track is good as it is.
I truly don't want to change the track at all, ive club tested it multiple times and it's gotten great reactions. Also ive gotten great feedback from other guys in the industry and other labels.
So, the question is...what should i do? Do i say..."No" and risk losing the release...or do i bow down to what they want and write a new lead (over the one that already exists) and make the track over cluttered.
If it wasn't a decent label i probably wouldn't care and id just scrap the release...but being a first release, i had no clue i would have so many problems.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. |
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| Rodri Santos |
if this help to you i have been where you are and my answer was "NO" they asked me for more compression on the kick. Ok i did, found it appropiate.
They asked me to delete a melody from the track O.o i answered no.
More labels were interested on that track so, if you think the track is really worthy pass and look for another label if they don't release it. |
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| 19503 |
| say no. what label? |
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| Number2 |
Thanks for the quick responses guys. Yeah after sitting down and trying to work something out with the lead i just cant bare to add something ontop of it.
Sorry, i don't wanna say what label, or name anybody.
All i can say is that, it's a sub label of one of the bigger labels, run by a DJMag top 100 DJ.
Which...theres TONS of those...lol so i think im safe saying that. |
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| Prototrance |
I agree with the responses so far, tell them bollocks and go elsewhere. The industry is in a state where labels are releasing huge numbers of tracks, if it was liked by an established label as you say I doubt you will have any trouble getting it signed elsewhere.
Try Fly at Bonzai, Stephen at Olympik (on these forums) and Amir at Proxoz. I can testify to the professionalism of all three.
Good luck |
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| zodiac9 |
That's BS that they want you to change the musical structure of the track. Why the eF did they sign it to begin with??? I can understand if they told you the mastering needed some tweaking, but asking you to remove a lead and such, that's really pushing it.
| quote: | Originally posted by Prototrance
Try Fly at Bonzai
Good luck |
Agreed on Bonzai, they have treated me well. They leave me alone and seem to appreciate that I do my own unique thing. Yep, Fly is Da man!
There are plenty of lables out there. Don't waste your time on a fickle one. |
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| cronodevir |
| You are doing a disservice to your fellow musicians by not telling them what label is being ty, why should you try to protect the name of a label that doesn't know how to be a proper label? They clearly don't have it on point, spreading their name and your story will force them to either be proper, or close down. Artists control the labels, not the other way around. It sounds cheesy, but by hiding their identity, you are letting them win. |
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| mfitterer1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by cronodevir
You are doing a disservice to your fellow musicians by not telling them what label is being ty, why should you try to protect the name of a label that doesn't know how to be a proper label? They clearly don't have it on point, spreading their name and your story will force them to either be proper, or close down. Artists control the labels, not the other way around. It sounds cheesy, but by hiding their identity, you are letting them win. |
There's a first time for everything and I STRONGLY agree with Cron here. You're only hurting us by not telling us who it is. If you really want to keep from posting it please PM me; I'm really trying to get a grip on who to work with and who not so info like this is very important to be shared throughout the community. I hope you understand the relevance to other musicians. I'll keep it to myself I just feel we need to all stay away from labels like this. |
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| johncannons1 |
| if you are Pm'ing ppl can you pm me i would like to know for my own good about this label please. |
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| Eric J |
Just to play devil's advocate for a second...
Have you considered that there may be some merit to what they are asking you to do?
I mean, I realize that it is easy to become attached to your tracks, but is it possible that you might try to step outside yourself for a moment and listen as objectively as possible to see if maybe what they are suggesting might make the track better?
I don't dismiss what others have said here, and it is certainly believable that the label is being a bit unreasonable asking for these changes.
That being said, I am often in this situation with my studio partner. I'll get a track almost all written before he gets a chance to hear it, and there are times where he'll listen to the finished product and want to make a ton of changes to a basically finished track. Frequently these changes are pretty major and will require me to essentially tear the track apart. While it can be a little bit hard on the ego at times for me, it usually results in a better track overall simply because I have a second pair of hears and a second perspective.
Again, the label may be being totally unreasonable here, and without hearing the track I would be unable to make such a determination. I'm just suggesting that sometimes a second pair of ears can make you see and hear things that you may not have otherwise considered and look at things from a different perspective. It can be a good thing to take a second look at your music with those suggestions in mind to see if they do indeed have merit. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
Just to play devil's advocate for a second...
Have you considered that there may be some merit to what they are asking you to do?
I mean, I realize that it is easy to become attached to your tracks, but is it possible that you might try to step outside yourself for a moment and listen as objectively as possible to see if maybe what they are suggesting might make the track better?
I don't dismiss what others have said here, and it is certainly believable that the label is being a bit unreasonable asking for these changes.
That being said, I am often in this situation with my studio partner. I'll get a track almost all written before he gets a chance to hear it, and there are times where he'll listen to the finished product and want to make a ton of changes to a basically finished track. Frequently these changes are pretty major and will require me to essentially tear the track apart. While it can be a little bit hard on the ego at times for me, it usually results in a better track overall simply because I have a second pair of hears and a second perspective.
Again, the label may be being totally unreasonable here, and without hearing the track I would be unable to make such a determination. I'm just suggesting that sometimes a second pair of ears can make you see and hear things that you may not have otherwise considered and look at things from a different perspective. It can be a good thing to take a second look at your music with those suggestions in mind to see if they do indeed have merit. |
This +1
Even though the OP did say the track was club tested.
Personally, I've seen too many of these questions here and labels getting all flirty in both here in the Music Producer's Promotions Forum that I think it would be wise to have a general label issues thread.
Relating to the OP's reluctance to do a spill-all on his label - while it's not cool that we don't know who it is, it might be that the label's in the right on this. Without enough information, there's no way to really make any conclusive decision. If there's not enough information for us to make a decision, here, the addition of the label's name isn't going to add anything substantive to the discussion.
I wish there was a place, like RipOffReport.com, dedicated to music producer concerns with their label. It seems like it's really easy, in this market, to get taken advantage of. I know it's a pipe dream, especially considering all the legal , like Non-Disclosure Agreements, and other like that, but it also seems like labels who were operating on the up-and-up wouldn't be put off by such a thing. |
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| cronodevir |
Here is what they have in my city...
http://memphis.bbb.org/
Better Business Bureau
If your business does something questionable, you get investigated, and if it is true, you get added to a list of bad businesses, and they warn everyone in the city to avoid you. I love it. |
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