As an up and coming band, being offered your first record deal can feel like an amazing accomplishment, and something worth celebrating. While this may indeed be the case, not every record deal is necessarily what it seems, and a some suspicion is advised. Here we look at ten red flags to watch for when being offered a record deal.
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In this fresh new post from Bandzoogle on MusicThinkTank, Byron Pascoe outlines ten major red flags artists should look out for when they’re offered a record deal.
“If you’re both a writer and performer, a label will usually try to force you to receive fewer mechanical royalties as compared to the standard royalty rate.
For example, you may be required to accept 75% of the mechanical royalties for up to 10 songs, even if you need to deliver 13 songs. While this is not an uncommon (yet unreasonable) request, consider how much you’re paying in mechanical licenses to your co-writers and the people who wrote songs you covered. Are you paying more mechanical royalties than you’re receiving? That would be a very bad situation!”
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