Why signing a record deal ain't necessarily a good thing

[Garp]

Originally Posted by semi-pro waster

Record companies aren't all bad (capitalism seldom is that clear cut) but nor are they the poor souls doing it for the love of the industry either most of the time.

I'd say the majority of labels aren't bad, it's just that a very small number of them control most of the market (EMI et al), and those ones are bad.

[cleanbluesky]

Originally Posted by semi-pro waster

Record companies aren't all bad (capitalism seldom is that clear cut) but nor are they the poor souls doing it for the love of the industry either most of the time.

But home taping IS killing music.

[cleanbluesky]

Originally Posted by Mark

You've said that twice now. Care to show me where anyone said they did?

You don't have to put someone in a torture chamber to get them to do what you want. Ever heard of social engineering? That's a somewhat extreme example of my point, but valid nonetheless.

Offer the average tweenager the prospect of becoming a superstar and they'll jump at the chance. Why else do you think so many turn up to the likes of X Factor time after time?

Indeed, all you have to do is offer them an advantage. As record companies do, helping the artist. In exchange for fatcat profit.

[Garp]

CBS, no one is disagreeing with you on that. The point of the article and posting it here was to show that signing a contract is not always a good thing. I reckon you could say that in the majority of cases the artists would be so much financially better off without signing said contract.


The Darkness took yet another alternative method. Permission To Land was an album they paid for themselves. When "I believe in a thing called love" took off they had all the majors clamouring to get a piece of the action. Under those circumstances they were able to dictate the terms to the labels. They kept stuff like the publishing rights and a larger percentage of merchandise profits to themselves. Along with songwriter royalties that meant the band members each walked away with a couple of million each.