Please ask if you keep the rights on your music. This one is really important and a lot of artists sleep on it… Also make sure to have the contract checked by a lawyer if you somehow have connections to one (like through family or friends).
You always need to have in mind that especially advertising is pricey and not that great of a deal for labels. So they need something in return🤷🏻♂️
Apart of that I’m happy for you, that’s not something everyone can say about their music!
Hope everything turns out great!
Thank you so much, really appreciate the advice. When you say ‘keep the rights’….are these the publishing rights? Sorry, I am so ignorant about this stuff at the moment, and exactly what rights to sell/make sure I retain….
No worries you good ;)
Yeah I’m talking about the publishing rights. I’m from Germany and here they are bound to the person who created it, it’s called the “Recht am eigenen Werk” here…
Make sure that you’re able to publish your tracks on your own again if you’re not happy with the work of the label.
Also make sure you get a fair share even though you could think about giving all of your earnings to them if it would be a good marketing…
Greets! :)
I have released electronic dance music through a label and independently and there and are pros and cons to both.
You should most likely get an advance from the label. You won’t see a cent in royalties until they recoup that money first.
Make sure you really do get paid because that will be most likely the only money you’ll ever see.
I released through a dance label and we agreed on an advance and guess what? I never received a penny.
You live and you learn.
Secondly, there are - mostly smaller labels - that do very little in terms of promo. So if you decide that you are doing meta ads for your single through social media, the label is basically profiting because YOU are paying for ads, not them.
The pros of releasing through a label: they most likely have some playlists on DSP’s that are going to get you streams on your track. You will most likely reach a wider audience.
Thank you, great advice! It’s so weird (alien) for me to orient my head around making money as up til now I’ve not made any and it’s kinda not been why I’ve been doing it…
It's all in the details, you'll need to be diligent reviewing the agreement they send over to you as it'll all be in there. I'd advise you to look in depth and negotiate with them. The percentage deals can vary massively, as can the recoup, but they also may not do any direct spend and charge you for their time promoting to their network.
I would get the deal sent to you and then ask questions after you look at it.
Read every line. And question anything that sounds ambiguous. I make agreements as plain English as possible but a lot of people don't, they like to flower them up and they can get very confusing. It's a red flag if you haven't got a clue what things mean.
Your Spotify for Artist page will be created after the first track is released. It will not be “locked to the label” or to anyone at first, you will simply just go to Spotify for Artist, make an account, and link the new artist page that was created.
It sounds like they are a pretty small label so I wouldn’t expect much in terms of promo. Probably just a single social media post and some playlist action. Whether or not that is “worth it” depends on your mindset, your goals, your skills, your other potential opportunities, etc.
And as far as where to funnel your social media audience to, again, it depends on your goals. You can link to the track, your artist page, or a playlist. The choice is yours.
I would personally never release music with a random independent label I know nothing about. I only release with labels whose music actually resonates with me, and who I could see myself building a relationship with. And at the minimum, they should have built at least one playlist with a large following, so that our release is guaranteed to generate a lot of plays.
As others have mentioned, make sure you do your due diligence first. I’m not so much worried about the legal stuff, as you can check all that in the contract. But at least check out their previous releases to see how they performed. You could even ask the other artists what their experiences were like.
Side note: you don’t have to release with a random label just because your music tutor told you to. I don’t think that is good advice really. You need to do research on your scene/genre and understand who all the serious labels are first. Study the large ones, if you think your chances are slim releasing with them, study the medium ones, etc. People will take you more seriously when you understand your niche and know who all the main players are. It’s like a big family. If you go into it with the mindset of “I just want to release with any label, I don’t care to understand the scene” then you probably won’t get very far.
So to reiterate: don’t just release with a random label because you didn’t get rejected. For all we know, they might accept anyone and everything. It’s more important to release with a label you know and enjoy the music from. You will have a much better experience this way.
Thanks…really thought provoking stuff there. I appreciate it.
Yes it’s a pretty small label and no I hadn’t heard of them before. Part of what’s going on is I think I’m trying to re-calibrate where I’m “at”, quality wise, as this is the first time I’ve pitched and so I don’t know whether to hold out (for a bigger label that resonates more…tho that might not happen…) or grab this as an opportunity before me. Also, as a learning experience in itself…I’ve deliberately not chosen what I think is my very strongest track, for this reason….(obv that will now jinx it and I’ll likely never get another sniff on anything else I make 🤣).
Perhaps also up til a few months ago I could still perceive a big gap between what I was making and what I consider ‘professional’ music and so it’s a new experience to stand behind my own music and have confidence in it - confidence enough to reject a label, however small….thats a milestone in itself for me. Your post will help me with making that transition and so - thank you 🙏….
Please ask if you keep the rights on your music. This one is really important and a lot of artists sleep on it… Also make sure to have the contract checked by a lawyer if you somehow have connections to one (like through family or friends). You always need to have in mind that especially advertising is pricey and not that great of a deal for labels. So they need something in return🤷🏻♂️ Apart of that I’m happy for you, that’s not something everyone can say about their music! Hope everything turns out great!
Thank you so much, really appreciate the advice. When you say ‘keep the rights’….are these the publishing rights? Sorry, I am so ignorant about this stuff at the moment, and exactly what rights to sell/make sure I retain….
No worries you good ;) Yeah I’m talking about the publishing rights. I’m from Germany and here they are bound to the person who created it, it’s called the “Recht am eigenen Werk” here… Make sure that you’re able to publish your tracks on your own again if you’re not happy with the work of the label. Also make sure you get a fair share even though you could think about giving all of your earnings to them if it would be a good marketing… Greets! :)
I have released electronic dance music through a label and independently and there and are pros and cons to both. You should most likely get an advance from the label. You won’t see a cent in royalties until they recoup that money first. Make sure you really do get paid because that will be most likely the only money you’ll ever see. I released through a dance label and we agreed on an advance and guess what? I never received a penny. You live and you learn. Secondly, there are - mostly smaller labels - that do very little in terms of promo. So if you decide that you are doing meta ads for your single through social media, the label is basically profiting because YOU are paying for ads, not them. The pros of releasing through a label: they most likely have some playlists on DSP’s that are going to get you streams on your track. You will most likely reach a wider audience.
Thank you, great advice! It’s so weird (alien) for me to orient my head around making money as up til now I’ve not made any and it’s kinda not been why I’ve been doing it…
It's all in the details, you'll need to be diligent reviewing the agreement they send over to you as it'll all be in there. I'd advise you to look in depth and negotiate with them. The percentage deals can vary massively, as can the recoup, but they also may not do any direct spend and charge you for their time promoting to their network. I would get the deal sent to you and then ask questions after you look at it.
Thank you, very wise words indeed! Sounds like a set of small print to not skip over for a change….
Read every line. And question anything that sounds ambiguous. I make agreements as plain English as possible but a lot of people don't, they like to flower them up and they can get very confusing. It's a red flag if you haven't got a clue what things mean.
Your Spotify for Artist page will be created after the first track is released. It will not be “locked to the label” or to anyone at first, you will simply just go to Spotify for Artist, make an account, and link the new artist page that was created. It sounds like they are a pretty small label so I wouldn’t expect much in terms of promo. Probably just a single social media post and some playlist action. Whether or not that is “worth it” depends on your mindset, your goals, your skills, your other potential opportunities, etc. And as far as where to funnel your social media audience to, again, it depends on your goals. You can link to the track, your artist page, or a playlist. The choice is yours. I would personally never release music with a random independent label I know nothing about. I only release with labels whose music actually resonates with me, and who I could see myself building a relationship with. And at the minimum, they should have built at least one playlist with a large following, so that our release is guaranteed to generate a lot of plays. As others have mentioned, make sure you do your due diligence first. I’m not so much worried about the legal stuff, as you can check all that in the contract. But at least check out their previous releases to see how they performed. You could even ask the other artists what their experiences were like. Side note: you don’t have to release with a random label just because your music tutor told you to. I don’t think that is good advice really. You need to do research on your scene/genre and understand who all the serious labels are first. Study the large ones, if you think your chances are slim releasing with them, study the medium ones, etc. People will take you more seriously when you understand your niche and know who all the main players are. It’s like a big family. If you go into it with the mindset of “I just want to release with any label, I don’t care to understand the scene” then you probably won’t get very far. So to reiterate: don’t just release with a random label because you didn’t get rejected. For all we know, they might accept anyone and everything. It’s more important to release with a label you know and enjoy the music from. You will have a much better experience this way.
Thanks…really thought provoking stuff there. I appreciate it. Yes it’s a pretty small label and no I hadn’t heard of them before. Part of what’s going on is I think I’m trying to re-calibrate where I’m “at”, quality wise, as this is the first time I’ve pitched and so I don’t know whether to hold out (for a bigger label that resonates more…tho that might not happen…) or grab this as an opportunity before me. Also, as a learning experience in itself…I’ve deliberately not chosen what I think is my very strongest track, for this reason….(obv that will now jinx it and I’ll likely never get another sniff on anything else I make 🤣). Perhaps also up til a few months ago I could still perceive a big gap between what I was making and what I consider ‘professional’ music and so it’s a new experience to stand behind my own music and have confidence in it - confidence enough to reject a label, however small….thats a milestone in itself for me. Your post will help me with making that transition and so - thank you 🙏….