On Fri, 18 Apr 2008, Mike Dickson wrote:
> Get a load of this, people - a six part article on /why the music
> industry sucks the big one:/
>
> http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/index.html
>
> It's a well-worn subject, and one that has been rehashed time and time
> again. However, what makes this one particularly interesting is that (1)
> it is extremely eloquent and (2) the fact that it is eloquent was
> profoundly surprising to me given the identity of the author.
>
> Mike Dickson
i think perhaps you are a bit too generous with your bestowing of
eloquence. i mean 'Get your shit together, you annoying sucka VCs'
does not get an 'A' in my class... doesn't even pass here...
what gets left out of these rants is the fact that no one forced
them to sign anything. did they READ the contract? did they have
any idea what the word 'recoup' meant? [or... 'recoupment' :) ]
pleading 'i didn't really understand' is not a valid defense.
i worked for a label for nearly 20 years.
we sold over 100 million records worldwide in about 15 years.
i still remember the phone call from one of our acts....
the scanario:
artist signed for 7 albums
advance for recording of first album: $60,000
[it was alledgedly almost complete already and only needed 'tweaking']
artist gets 50% upon signing / 50% on delivery
2 months later artist says he can't finish the record unless he
gets some more of his advance.
we give him $15,000.
another month later.
artist says he can't finish the record unless he gets some more of his
advance.
we give him the last $15,000.
jump ahead 2 months.
artist says he can't finish the record unless he gets some more money.
we say we need more details on exact status of recording; after all,
this was supposed to have been nearly complete months ago.
artist provides 5 mixed tracks, and 4 or 5 'demos'.
we are baffled as to why this is taking so long.
meanwhile, we are late on delivery to our pressing and distribution
partner and pushing other things on the schedule around.
at the end of the day, we gave him $110,000 to make the record.
that's nearly 100% over budget in basic math terms.
oh, plus the money we had to put up to clear a sample that the idiot
tried to sneak in on us unmentioned. that was another $10,000 plus
a per record royalty [and a chunk of the publishing, but we were no
the publishers in this case].
so, months and months go by, the record is completed and delivered.
it goes aout and, well, does not set the world on fire.
after a year it has only sold about 5,000 copies.
a couple months later it's time for the semi-annual royalty accounting
statements to be delivered. we send them off to the act's designated
accounting firm. later that day, a call comes in from the artist.
artist: hey man... so when can i come by to pick up that check?
me: hey <artist name>. what check is that?
artist: the royalty check. i know they came in this week.
me: you need to call <accountant name at above firm>.
he will tell you why i have no check for you.
artist: okay - i'll talk to you later...
me, after hanging up phone: what an idiot.
he had NO IDEA that he had not yet earned a single penny, and even
worse, thought he was owed money. and he was well aware that only
5,000 units had been sold. so i guess he thought that he made over
twenty buck a copy? i will always remember the feeling i had after
hanging up that phone call.
so, as i said: no one forced them to sign anything.
if they can't do a a little math or have their accountants and
land sharks [i mean lawyers] or managers do some projections,
then who is to blame, if blame needs to be designated?
yeah - a lot of record deals suck. and there is a new '360' model
that takes some of everything: touring, merchandising, etc, but
a little due diligence is in order.
if you don't like it, don't sign it.
...jeff [who has been on both sides of the biz forever...]