We are all aware of the TLC story: how they were the biggest selling R&B girl group of all-time, yet couldn’t pay their bills. To the average person, it looked like a group of girls who overspent their means. In reality, they were victims of bogus contracts. Unfortunately, they were just a few of countless artists that have fallen prey to the record label deal.
Here is a clip from the documentary “Artifact”, which sums up how the music recording industry works in relationship to its artists. While I have an issue with a few of the statistics, this is as close to a clear explanation as your going to get if you want to know how label deals work.
The explanation in the clip is very generalized, and every case is different… but it’s close.
In TLC’s case, they signed a management and label deal with Pebbitone, which had a production deal with LaFace Records, which was an imprint of Arista Records. That’s three separate entities that get paid before the group, which splits the remainder 3 ways. This doesn’t even include the other costs that were deducted beforehand, as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes explains in this video.
I’ve also seen a lot of people sign production deals with companies that are sub-labels. That’s another chunk of revenue gone before you even see it… that is, if you can get anything released.
I won’t even mention all the artists signed to Bad Boy that have come and gone, never to be heard from again. I’ll let Maronzio Vance fill you in on that.
With anything in life, you have to weigh the pros and the cons of the situation presented. While you may want to retain all control, 10% of $5 million is a lot more than 100% of zero. On the flip side, what will you have to do to earn that $500K, and how much was actually generated from your work?
Just a few things to consider before you sign that dotted line…
