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This page: Essential Contract Details
Essential Contract Details
'Record labels are reticent to offer anything that's good for an artist in an initial draft of an agreement.' -- J. David Wykoff
Artists with records stuck in major label limbo don't have a lot of options, concedes Nashville music lawyer J. David Wykoff. One's best hope is to go into initial negotiations with a good knowledge base, an experienced attorney, and ideally the bargaining power of another record company that is interested in you. Generally, however, "record labels are reticent to offer anything that's good for an artist in an initial draft of an agreement," he says. "Unless you've got many labels competing for you or you've got a label that needs to prove that it is artist-oriented, you're not going to be able to resolve that up front."
One option worth pursuing, he says, is a "guaranteed release" clause, which says that if the record gets made, the label has a certain amount of time to release it. If that release doesn't happen, and the artist gives notice, he or she can obviate any further obligations in the deal. "Although it doesn't commit them to releasing the record, it does allow you not to be in a nebulous world, not knowing how long you're going to be tied to them, while they're not doing anything," says Wykoff. "That's something you can generally get from labels."
Of course, just because you're released from a contract doesn't mean the album will ever see the light of day. The high cost of buying a record back generally requires another label getting involved and negotiating a sale price on your behalf, though as Hickman's story shows, it's only likely to work if you have an amicable history with the label.
As tough as it is to get a major label deal and as binding as those deals can be once they are landed, there are still huge challenges to self-releasing or working with a small label that has limited marketing and promotion budgets. "Elektra was excited about me when I got signed," recalls Sara Hickman. "There I was on the Tonight Show a week later, and there I was on the covers of magazines. It was amazing. I couldn't have done that by myself." Even so, she adds, "because of [acts like] Trout Fishing in America and Ani DiFranco, there are a lot more managers and lawyers who can help you see into the future as an independent."
It is perhaps an inevitable result of the digital music revolution that standard recording contracts will be held up to real scrutiny for the first time. More distribution channels and the lower cost of self-producing high quality recordings mean that it is no longer strictly a buyer's market when it comes to labels shopping for musical talent. Moreover, says Hickman, "I think now people are much more savvy. Musicians are talking out about it and sharing information."
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