What Level Is Your Band's Clout?
I am going to post today about your band's clout and what this all means. This is not so much a big deal if you are new and just beginning in the recording business industry. This really means what kind of bargaining power you are going to have at the table. There are basically three levels that you should be concerned about when making your own music.
New Artist
This is a band or artist that is fresh and new and had never before had a record deal, or someone who has signed before but has never sold over 250,000 copies of there albums per release. This also means that an artist once successful but somehow lost his or her following and is finding it difficult to catch on with a label.
Mid level Artist Or Bidding Artist
(1) This level means that your last album sold 500,000 to a 1,000,000 copy range. (2) You are a new artist or band and have various labels interested in you. Knocking your door down. This is a rare occurrence.
Superstar Level
This comes down to the number of albums you sell. To reach this level the number is a minimum of 2,000,000 copies to unlimited. If you are between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 your deal will be what is called a "Mid level Plus". A deal that is in between mid level and superstar.
Variables And Combination Of Level
Here are a few examples of how some of the combinations work on this clout level. One example could be if you are a mid level artist and several labels are out bidding each other up, which means you will get a superstar level deal. On the other hand, you might be a successful artist that is clueless and naive and not get that superstar contract. Just have a great lawyer.
I will give a point of reference on album status. A gold album is one that sells 500,000 U.S. units, and a platinum album is one that sells 1 million U.S. units. The sales figures are certified by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). This organization is made up of record companies.
Range Of Royalties For Three
New artist status gets 13% to 16% of PPD. Mid level gets 16% to 17%, and superstar level gets 18% to 20%. If you reach the superstar status you can do a off-center deal or a distribution deal where the artist owns the masters. PPD is the wholesale price of a CD. If your royalty rate is 15% and the wholesale price is $12.05. You multiply the two and you make $1.81. Interested in making your own music? Click here.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Making Your Own Music-Royalties And Recoupment Part Two
A Method Called Cross-Collateralization
Today's post is what is something called cross-collateralization. You are thinking to yourself, what is this? Sounds a bit confusing. This term is built into every and any record deal out there today. Let's say that you get $200,000 for your first album. plus another $200,000 for the second album. Now let's say that you make
$20,000 in royalties on album number one, and album number two earns $220,000 in royalties. If the two albums are not cross-collateralized, you would get nothing for album number one earned only earned back $20,000 of the $200,000 advance, so it's $180,000 unrecouped. This would be a deficit and carries over to the next album.
Cross-Collateralization Of Deals
This can also refer to different types of agreements in your contract with the label. These can be simultaneous agreements. Let's say an artist signs a recording contract and publishing agreement with the same company. This means that advances under either agreement can be recouped from royalties under both. This is very bad for the artist or band. Major labels don't usually try to do this in the contract combining
record deal and publishing deal. Small label or indie's will try this method. An untrained eye can miss this. Make sure your lawyer catches this condition. It says that advances can be recouped form royalties payable, and royalties can be used to recoup advances paid under this or any other agreement. A record contract is very complex and the average Joe will have no clue what 99% of the contract means. Take your time and don't just sign a contract unless you understand everything. Have you lawyer explain everything clearly.
If you want to record at home, here is a great music making software to use. I highly recommend it. It is very inexpensive and is a great tool. Click here.
Today's post is what is something called cross-collateralization. You are thinking to yourself, what is this? Sounds a bit confusing. This term is built into every and any record deal out there today. Let's say that you get $200,000 for your first album. plus another $200,000 for the second album. Now let's say that you make
$20,000 in royalties on album number one, and album number two earns $220,000 in royalties. If the two albums are not cross-collateralized, you would get nothing for album number one earned only earned back $20,000 of the $200,000 advance, so it's $180,000 unrecouped. This would be a deficit and carries over to the next album.
Cross-Collateralization Of Deals
This can also refer to different types of agreements in your contract with the label. These can be simultaneous agreements. Let's say an artist signs a recording contract and publishing agreement with the same company. This means that advances under either agreement can be recouped from royalties under both. This is very bad for the artist or band. Major labels don't usually try to do this in the contract combining
record deal and publishing deal. Small label or indie's will try this method. An untrained eye can miss this. Make sure your lawyer catches this condition. It says that advances can be recouped form royalties payable, and royalties can be used to recoup advances paid under this or any other agreement. A record contract is very complex and the average Joe will have no clue what 99% of the contract means. Take your time and don't just sign a contract unless you understand everything. Have you lawyer explain everything clearly.
If you want to record at home, here is a great music making software to use. I highly recommend it. It is very inexpensive and is a great tool. Click here.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Making Your Own Music-Advances and Recoupment
Advances For Bands And It's Basic Concept
Today I will discuss how advaces for bands or a solo artist works when you sign to a record label.
This is a bit deifferent form say when a professional athelete signs a contract. I will get into the differences in a bit. I will mentioned it now so here we go. An advance works when the label gives you a bunch of money right on the spot when you sign with them. There are many terms but I call it "upfront "money". Let's say you get a million dollars upfront. It works sort of like a loan. The label will than keeps your first million dollars you earn through all income and royalties until that million is recovered. This is called "recoupment". If you hace an amount of money that has not been recovered is your deficit or called red position. It is as simple is that when making your own music.
Other Details To Know About Recoupment
Monies paid directly to the artist or band are not the only recoupable monies. Recording costs are also considered recoupable from your royalties, and some portions of video production costs, independent promotion such as, monies paid on behalf of the band or artists to buy equipment or to support a personal appearance. It is not just recording time. Equipment rental, travel, arranging instrument transportation, etc. There is something called a union scale that means the minimum amount a union requires everyone to pay all it's members paid to you and others that perform at recording sessions. A contract will have general provisions that indicate all amounts paid to you or on your behalf or others in connection with the agreement are recoupable unless it states otherwise.
Next post I will get into more about recoupment and some other terms that you need to be familiar with.
Today I will discuss how advaces for bands or a solo artist works when you sign to a record label.
This is a bit deifferent form say when a professional athelete signs a contract. I will get into the differences in a bit. I will mentioned it now so here we go. An advance works when the label gives you a bunch of money right on the spot when you sign with them. There are many terms but I call it "upfront "money". Let's say you get a million dollars upfront. It works sort of like a loan. The label will than keeps your first million dollars you earn through all income and royalties until that million is recovered. This is called "recoupment". If you hace an amount of money that has not been recovered is your deficit or called red position. It is as simple is that when making your own music.
Other Details To Know About Recoupment
Monies paid directly to the artist or band are not the only recoupable monies. Recording costs are also considered recoupable from your royalties, and some portions of video production costs, independent promotion such as, monies paid on behalf of the band or artists to buy equipment or to support a personal appearance. It is not just recording time. Equipment rental, travel, arranging instrument transportation, etc. There is something called a union scale that means the minimum amount a union requires everyone to pay all it's members paid to you and others that perform at recording sessions. A contract will have general provisions that indicate all amounts paid to you or on your behalf or others in connection with the agreement are recoupable unless it states otherwise.
Next post I will get into more about recoupment and some other terms that you need to be familiar with.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Making Your Own Music-CD Royalties
Compact Disk Royalties
Today I will discuss more about royalties and how they are computed today. Record companies decided to go to a newer system which was implemented in 2006. Older contracts involved royalties on cassettes and not CD's. This is not entirely true. When compact disks came out they were super expensive to manufacture than cassettes so in turn the record labels paid a lower royalty out to the artists. There was no set percentage. This had to be worked out in the negotiation process.
1. Your royalty rate for compact disk was however a reduced percentage of the cassette rate.
2. The computation of the suggested retail list price for CD's varied from company to company. A majority of the the companies use what is called the uplift of the wholesale price, meaning they multiplied the wholesale price by a percentage usually being 130% for the major labels. So let's say the wholesale
price is $10, the uplifted price would be $13. This is 130% of $10. Your royalty rate would be applied to the constructed retail price or new price.
3. The packaging deduction for CD's was 25% as opposed to 20% for cassettes, and 10% for vinyl.
*Here is some info form the past that does not exist today. Their was a time that artists only got 90% of net sales because records were made of shellac and were easily breakable. So the record labels developed a practice for paying on 90% of the shipment and keeping the remaining 10% to cover there breakage. This was one of many ways to nickel and dime the artist.
Today I will discuss more about royalties and how they are computed today. Record companies decided to go to a newer system which was implemented in 2006. Older contracts involved royalties on cassettes and not CD's. This is not entirely true. When compact disks came out they were super expensive to manufacture than cassettes so in turn the record labels paid a lower royalty out to the artists. There was no set percentage. This had to be worked out in the negotiation process.
1. Your royalty rate for compact disk was however a reduced percentage of the cassette rate.
2. The computation of the suggested retail list price for CD's varied from company to company. A majority of the the companies use what is called the uplift of the wholesale price, meaning they multiplied the wholesale price by a percentage usually being 130% for the major labels. So let's say the wholesale
price is $10, the uplifted price would be $13. This is 130% of $10. Your royalty rate would be applied to the constructed retail price or new price.
3. The packaging deduction for CD's was 25% as opposed to 20% for cassettes, and 10% for vinyl.
*Here is some info form the past that does not exist today. Their was a time that artists only got 90% of net sales because records were made of shellac and were easily breakable. So the record labels developed a practice for paying on 90% of the shipment and keeping the remaining 10% to cover there breakage. This was one of many ways to nickel and dime the artist.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Making Your Own Music-Quality Of Music Today
Today's post I am going to get off track and shift my attention from royalties to what has happened to the lack of quality in commercial music today. This topic really hits me hard personally when I hear some of the crap on the radio in today's industry.
Music Business Is Run By The Big Media Corporations
Media in America is a monster and very powerful in today's society. Media takes a specific concept on how to entice the majority of our society. This is what happens in music. The media world has made a huge impact on everyone. As I seen it, I look at media and major record labels as nothing but one big mega marketing company. They push what ever they want down your throat. The concept of shoving image and messaging time and time again has become a multi-billion dollar cash machine.
What Ever Happened To Artist Control
Artists and bands rarely have control of music. What I mean is that once again the labels control and limit your artistic freedom in producing your own music. Do you know that when an artist goes into the studio nothing rarely stays the same. Producers make changes not for the quality of the music being produced by what sound and lyrics that sell and make the labels money. This detracts from quality and the focus shifts far away from great music. Just one of many examples is the country genre. Most major artists have writers that submit songs to the artist and don't usually produce there own music.
Music For The Masses
If you look at statistics on the demographics, who is buying the majority of records. The biggest age group are young people ages 16-25. These are the Jonas Brothers and Lady Gaga fans. Sorry, but that music is just terrible. This type of music is trite, boring, repetitive, and lacks substance. Image is a major factor in selling music. This has become and big marketing tool for the media and record labels. Music should be like a great piece of literature. It should make you think and make and effect on your soul. I can't name one artist today that does that. Music styles and trends seem to change and I can't wait for real music to come back and the industry shifts it's efforts on substance and not image. I could go on about the lack in quality in music. This post is just my opinion. I beg the industry to get back to quality so I can turn my radio on again.
Music Business Is Run By The Big Media Corporations
Media in America is a monster and very powerful in today's society. Media takes a specific concept on how to entice the majority of our society. This is what happens in music. The media world has made a huge impact on everyone. As I seen it, I look at media and major record labels as nothing but one big mega marketing company. They push what ever they want down your throat. The concept of shoving image and messaging time and time again has become a multi-billion dollar cash machine.
What Ever Happened To Artist Control
Artists and bands rarely have control of music. What I mean is that once again the labels control and limit your artistic freedom in producing your own music. Do you know that when an artist goes into the studio nothing rarely stays the same. Producers make changes not for the quality of the music being produced by what sound and lyrics that sell and make the labels money. This detracts from quality and the focus shifts far away from great music. Just one of many examples is the country genre. Most major artists have writers that submit songs to the artist and don't usually produce there own music.
Music For The Masses
If you look at statistics on the demographics, who is buying the majority of records. The biggest age group are young people ages 16-25. These are the Jonas Brothers and Lady Gaga fans. Sorry, but that music is just terrible. This type of music is trite, boring, repetitive, and lacks substance. Image is a major factor in selling music. This has become and big marketing tool for the media and record labels. Music should be like a great piece of literature. It should make you think and make and effect on your soul. I can't name one artist today that does that. Music styles and trends seem to change and I can't wait for real music to come back and the industry shifts it's efforts on substance and not image. I could go on about the lack in quality in music. This post is just my opinion. I beg the industry to get back to quality so I can turn my radio on again.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Making Your Own Music-Money And Royalties
Royalties And Money
Now I will get to what is the big one. The money side of your bands royalties. The proceeds between the bands/artists and the record companies is a bit complicated and very detailed. I will mention here how computations use to work, and how it is structure today. The reason being that some deals today use the older structures which is the older system. So, I am going into the math side of this which you must know as a band or artist.
1. The artist royalty is a percentage of the wholesale price. This is referred to as PPD which means published price to dealers. Sometimes it is referred to as BPD, base price to dealers. Each royalty percentage is know as a point. Let's just say if you have 20% royalty, you would have earned 20 points. An example would be say CD wholesale price is $20 times 20% equals $2. This is the simple math to understand it. Royalties are paid for every single record sold. Keep in mind every record sold. Companies do give away free goods, known as special free goods. This free goods started when companies wanted to push a big amount of albums. To get the record stores to stock a lot of the records they may give away say 5% or 10% of all records shipped. Free goods are consider discounts but still cost the record company money so they don't count as royalties.
Making Your Own Music And Promotional Copies
Records that are given away for promotional purposes like radio station copies are also free goods. These are actually marked as "not for sale". These copies are strictly for DJ's and the radio station. So, the artist and the record labels don't make a dime on these marked promotional copies.
Return
Records are only sold on a 100% return privilege. This means if the record shop can't sell them they can ship them back and get a credit or refund for the albums that didn't sell. The reason for the return is so the record stores don't get stuck with product they can't sell. Remember that a record stores space cost them money because they pay rent for the space.
Next post I will talk about more on royalties with albums. If you want to record at home click here for a great music making software.
Now I will get to what is the big one. The money side of your bands royalties. The proceeds between the bands/artists and the record companies is a bit complicated and very detailed. I will mention here how computations use to work, and how it is structure today. The reason being that some deals today use the older structures which is the older system. So, I am going into the math side of this which you must know as a band or artist.
1. The artist royalty is a percentage of the wholesale price. This is referred to as PPD which means published price to dealers. Sometimes it is referred to as BPD, base price to dealers. Each royalty percentage is know as a point. Let's just say if you have 20% royalty, you would have earned 20 points. An example would be say CD wholesale price is $20 times 20% equals $2. This is the simple math to understand it. Royalties are paid for every single record sold. Keep in mind every record sold. Companies do give away free goods, known as special free goods. This free goods started when companies wanted to push a big amount of albums. To get the record stores to stock a lot of the records they may give away say 5% or 10% of all records shipped. Free goods are consider discounts but still cost the record company money so they don't count as royalties.
Making Your Own Music And Promotional Copies
Records that are given away for promotional purposes like radio station copies are also free goods. These are actually marked as "not for sale". These copies are strictly for DJ's and the radio station. So, the artist and the record labels don't make a dime on these marked promotional copies.
Return
Records are only sold on a 100% return privilege. This means if the record shop can't sell them they can ship them back and get a credit or refund for the albums that didn't sell. The reason for the return is so the record stores don't get stuck with product they can't sell. Remember that a record stores space cost them money because they pay rent for the space.
Next post I will talk about more on royalties with albums. If you want to record at home click here for a great music making software.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Making Your Own Music-What A Record Is?
This post I will discuss what a record is when making your own music. As simple as it sounds, the answer to what a record is, not what you might expect. The term record is a compact disk with music on it. It also includes pre-recorded cassettes and vinyl disk that are dead. Since the 1960 their is an on going argument of a definition of what a record is. A record is both an audio-only and an audiovisual device(meaning one with sound and visual images), such as videocassettes and DVD's, which play video as well as audio material. Another definition is any other device that is capable of transmitting sound alone, or sound with visual images. Back in the day records were not duplicated in mass amounts. Records were made by musicians and singers perform for each record that was actually sold. Just think how much work that would be if you sold say two million albums back in the old days.
Making your own music a big factor in creating a record is the master
The term master has two meanings:
1. The original recording made in the recording studio is called the master, because it is the master from which all copies are made. Master recordings are now done mostly on computer hard drives. These recordings are a multitrack, meaning that each instrument and voice part is recorded on a separate track or channel. Drums on one track, guitar on another, voice on another, etc. When this process is recorded then the master is edited, mixed, and EQ'd. Just like in films, editing means to cut out the parts that you don't like. Mixing means getting the right level for each track, so that every instrument or part are at the correct volume. The sound can also be enhanced by the EQ process. The mixed multitrack is then reduced down to a two-track stereophonic master, which is then ready for the duplication process. So basically there are two maters-the original multitrack, and the finished two-track.
2. The word "master" also means a recording of one particular song. Thus, you might say an album has "ten masters", meaning ten separate selections. These individual recordings are also called "cuts".
Next post I will discuss royalty computation. Making your own music at home, click here.
Making your own music a big factor in creating a record is the master
The term master has two meanings:
1. The original recording made in the recording studio is called the master, because it is the master from which all copies are made. Master recordings are now done mostly on computer hard drives. These recordings are a multitrack, meaning that each instrument and voice part is recorded on a separate track or channel. Drums on one track, guitar on another, voice on another, etc. When this process is recorded then the master is edited, mixed, and EQ'd. Just like in films, editing means to cut out the parts that you don't like. Mixing means getting the right level for each track, so that every instrument or part are at the correct volume. The sound can also be enhanced by the EQ process. The mixed multitrack is then reduced down to a two-track stereophonic master, which is then ready for the duplication process. So basically there are two maters-the original multitrack, and the finished two-track.
2. The word "master" also means a recording of one particular song. Thus, you might say an album has "ten masters", meaning ten separate selections. These individual recordings are also called "cuts".
Next post I will discuss royalty computation. Making your own music at home, click here.
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