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Band turns record deal down

#41
These days a band does not need a record company ...

You can outfit your basement with good 16 or 24 or 32 track recording equipment for a reasonable price. Then you can make you own CD to sell on the internet and you can also sell individual songs online for $1 each.

Then when you are selling too many songs and cds you go to the record company and ask them to reproduce and distribute your cds for you. But shop around and get the best deal.
 
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#42
48thStreetCustom said:
I read the whole back and forth between the label guy and the singer. The label guy says this about the value they bring to the table:

"I thought a band like yourself would appreciate $10,000 [to record your music] and a shot at having a dedicated team of people working for you, helping you land tours, a manager, a booking agent and everything else it takes to have a real career playing music for a living... You're guaranteed a worldwide album release, money to record, financial tour support, music videos, a publicist and promotion, along with all the label help and brand power of Sumerian to grow your career... Sumerian is known for getting their bands on real tours immediately upon signing and supporting them on tour, buying/fixing vans, covering road expenses, etc. "
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Anybody stupid enough to think that a label is going to do all of that deserves to get screwed.
 
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#43
Either that guy doesn't want to continue a career in music or he isn't very smart. There are a lot better bands that aren't being offered record deals, yet his band gets one where they are likely to make some money, yet he won't take it. Everyone already knows the system is screwed up, but getting a break and not taking AND $$$$$$ out the company on video isn't going to help your chances at or or even begin to fix the problem.
 
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#46
Ric5 said:
These days a band does not need a record company ...

You can outfit your basement with good 16 or 24 or 32 track recording equipment for a reasonable price. Then you can make you own CD to sell on the internet and you can also sell individual songs online for $1 each.

Then when you are selling too many songs and cds you go to the record company and ask them to reproduce and distribute your cds for you. But shop around and get the best deal.
Click to expand...

If it was that easy, everyone would do it and everybody here on TB would be rockstars.
 
#49
48thStreetCustom said:
If it was that easy, everyone would do it and everybody here on TB would be rockstars.
Click to expand...

I never said it was easy ... I am just giving young musicians an alternative to signing bad contracts.

I know people who signed deals and later regretted it.

One of my goals in life is to never get signed to a record deal.
 
#50
Disclosure: I read the article but didn't listen to the whole 23 minute video.

I don't really see a problem here. They participated in a Battle Of The Bands for the grand prize of an offer of a record contract from a label. Nothing in the article (and I'll bet in the legal disclosures from the Battle Of The Bands) specified the terms of the record deal. The band didn't like what was offered and couldn't/wouldn't negotiate something better so they walked away from it. It seems pretty tactless to make a YouTube video about it though, since that video could convince other labels that the band in question is too difficult to work with to be worth any investment in the form of a (presumably different) record deal.

I truly hope for their sake that the band took advantage of playing with other bands to network for doing future shows together in each other's regions, made contacts with the venues try performed in and used the experience of the competition to connect to more fans and put everything on social media. To be honest though, I'm not sure why anyone wants to be on a label anymore when it's easier than ever to track, mix and master an album yourself and then shop for distributors with a management team of your choosing.
 
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#51
Hey, this whole fiasco is probably going to get them much more attention than the record company ever could have hoped to bring in. And in this social media-centric world, with enough backlash from fans and musicians alike, maybe they just might rethink the way they do business next time. Well okay, I doubt that, but who knows?
 
#52
Kevan Campbell said:
Disclosure: I read the article but didn't listen to the whole 23 minute video.

I don't really see a problem here. They participated in a Battle Of The Bands for the grand prize of an offer of a record contract from a label. Nothing in the article (and I'll bet in the legal disclosures from the Battle Of The Bands) specified the terms of the record deal. The band didn't like what was offered and couldn't/wouldn't negotiate something better so they walked away from it. It seems pretty tactless to make a YouTube video about it though, since that video could convince other labels that the band in question is too difficult to work with to be worth any investment in the form of a (presumably different) record deal.

I truly hope for their sake that the band took advantage of playing with other bands to network for doing future shows together in each other's regions, made contacts with the venues try performed in and used the experience of the competition to connect to more fans and put everything on social media. To be honest though, I'm not sure why anyone wants to be on a label anymore when it's easier than ever to track, mix and master an album yourself and then shop for distributors with a management team of your choosing.
Click to expand...

There was really no way for the record label to compel the band to sign the contract after it had won, and there is probably no legal way for the label to do it before the band has competed, especially in the absence of a contract to read, which was some of the problem here. The record label simply got called out on its dictatorial business practices by a band with the good sense and wherewithal to engage a lawyer, and for one brief moment there was justice in the world.

If the contents of the contract had been known before the competition, the smarter bands would have passed altogether (reducing the caliber of the competition, as well). Record companies are expert in exploiting the innocence and naiveté of young people, who often only see a payoff of riches and fame, not the slave/master relationship codified into typical recording contracts. Perhaps the long-awaited day of reckoning has come.
 
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#53
The bands only mistake was thinking the contest entitled them to more than they got. They were offered a record contract.. Contest never said it had to be a good one. But it is disgusting to see musicians lambasting this band for not entering into a contract that took severe advantage of them. Is it jealousy that they were offered a record contract? Idk.
 
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