exposure at high cost
The one thing I personally don’t like is what happens with the vocals. You record a vocal for one of their tracks, and they basically own that recording for the life of the copyright. If that vocal is tied to the composition as well, they also get a piece of the publishing and control the publishing administration.
There’s even a re-recording clause, so you can’t just go and re-record the same composition during the deal.
That said, they do spend a lot of money on promotion, which is genuinely a good thing, especially for unknown or smaller artists who are trying to get some reach. They seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to marketing and actually run proper campaigns rather than just uploading a track and hoping for the best. The downside is that these costs are recouped, so you’re ultimately paying for that investment out of your share.
They also give relatively unknown artists a chance, which is definitely a positive. But in return, they take a lot, and overall the contracts are very heavily structured in the label’s favor.
There are also situations where the way an agreement is explained to you doesn’t seem to match what’s actually written in the contract. For example, I was told it was only going to be one song, while the actual agreement made me exclusive for six months. So I’d strongly recommend reading everything yourself and not relying only on how the deal is explained to you verbally.
Overall, I think they can be really useful for artists who need exposure and don’t have the reach themselves, but you should be very aware of what you’re giving up in exchange for that exposure.
Paiements & royalties 1/5Communication 2/5Clarté du contrat 1/5Promotion 5/5Liberté artistique 2/5
masters in perpetuity, terrible rates
the budgets are the one good thing. when they push a song they actually spend on it, proper campaigns, more than almost any label in the scene. thats why songs blow up there and why people keep signing.
the rest is rough. rates are terrible and recoup is extreme, every cost gets charged back to you, so even big numbers turn into almost nothing. i had to chase them for tens of thousands in royalties i was owed. got it eventually, but only because i knew my numbers and kept pushing. a licensing fee in the thousands also got paid for one of my songs and i never saw a cent of it. if that happened to me, plenty is going unpaid to artists who never check.
the contract is the real problem. they sign masters in perpetuity, and the deal covers way more than the one song. the master is theirs for life of copyright, plus every remix version, the exact formats they mass release themselves. they take half your publishing with 100% admin, so they control the whole song, your half included. no reversion, nothing ever comes back, even if they shelve the release.
and the one thing im personally against, record your own vocal, use a vocal you have the rights / a license to use, and you use it in a song with them. they own that vocal forever. the recording and the melody and lyrics underneath it. theres re record wording too, so you cant even sing the same line fresh somewhere else. and since they own the vocal, any other song using it, released before or after, becomes something they can claim royalties and publishing on. which looks like exactly how they ended up controlling so many brazilian funk vocals. sign the vocalist on one song, own the vocal for life, collect on everything it touches. most of the roster is young or not native english speakers and nobody explains any of this to them.
theyre massive now, part of create music group, so clearly it all works. corporate through and through, business first, before the artists and before how it looks. 2 stars because the budgets are real and songs do blow up. everything else is built for them, not you. get a lawyer on that contract and check every statement, nobody there will volunteer whats yours.
Paiements & royalties 1/5Communication 1/5Clarté du contrat 1/5Promotion 5/5Liberté artistique 1/5
