At Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 15:52:24 John Micel wrote:

> > also...take the money and run?  from the information
> > i've been given recently, that can mean that your
> > music gets in essence 'stolen' and held hostage if the
> > label decides to not release it, but not let you out
> > of your contract, holding you in music
> > purgatory...which doesn't seem like any sort of
> > 'bankrolled shot' at much of anything to me.
>
>That happened to my friends in The Badlees -- a wonderful central Pa. band
>for those not in the know. They hit it big-ish in 1996 with a record on
>Polydor ("River Songs"), and were all set to record their follow-up when
>Polydor was swallowed up in the Universal merger madness.
>The follow-up record sat on a shelf for three years until they were finally
>let out of their contract. Pretty much killed dead any momentum they'd 
>built
>up.

Here's the new "smarter-more-sophisticated artist" approach to this type of 
situation (which is a VERY common scenario, BTW):

Let's assume your band signs a major deal and you get advanced a modest sum 
of money on the first record.....SAVE THE GODDAM MONEY!!!

It may look like you hit the lottery, but that money comes out of future 
royalties (i.e. anything you sell from the day contract is signed until the 
Sun gows supernova 50,000 years from now). Put it in the bank, buy yourself 
a home (in cash), or invest it stocks....whatever it takes.

OR

Defer the money to pay for your NEXT album yourself. License it BACK to the 
label and make sure your contract has the following clause:

All rights to masters, and existing manufactured goods, will revert to the 
artist should the label:
1) Cease to exist
2) Endure a takeover [hostile or otherwise]
3) Failure to promote**
4) Not release the album within 6 months of completion
5) Have key managerial staff changes [this is known as the KEYMAN clause -- 
the one that Don Henley exercised/exorcised when David Geffen left 
DGC...meaning that Henley could walk away from his obligations to the label 
if Geffen was no longer there...in theory, anyway....Henley ended up in 
court anyway, but....that's another tale for another time....)

** Failure to promote can mean ANYTHING you outline in the deal. In the case 
of U2, they have a clause with Island Records that effectively ensures every 
record they release goes Top10...if it doesn't, U2 gets to walk away with 
their entire catalogue to another label. Island doesn't want this to happen 
and does EVERYTHING to ensure these guys hit it out of the park on every 
release.

I'd like to say I feel bad for the Badlees, but if their master was held in 
limbo, then they had a crappy lawyer when they signed their deal.

Just some helpful advice for those that might soon "make it". :-)



Jaimie Vernon,
President,
Bullseye Records of Canada, Inc.
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
"Not Suing Our Customers Since 1985!"

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