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The tragedy recorded music is overloaded with song sharks in publishing, promotion, label and management scams is only exceeded by industry ignorance bordering on abject stupidity that serves no other purpose than to perpetuate the sucker market. Only in recorded music are the never-did-it-themselves boneheads considered to be infallible 'experts'. Aunt "send-it-in" Ninny duly endorsed by Uncle "wait-to-be-discovered" Stupid and Cousin "reeeecords-is-free" Chucklehead are the most commonly known examples of irreparable ignorance that open the doors to all this industry's major scams.
Year-in and year-out, such appalling stupidities never change. One would think wannabe entertainers are totally bereft of intellectual capability beyond mouthing these same never-did-work idiocies. And in spite of the fact nobody can deliver so much as one instance of success as result of following such crackpot scenarios! Those jackass delusions do expand to incorporate new technologies and terminologies, still without producing any actual successes whatsoever.
Those who 'think' they are industry "experts" because they've heard the same never-did-work delusions all their lives, or played beer joints for the better part of their 'careers', are thus aptly termed "idiot element". They may very well KNOW the gin-mill performance standards, and have some solid road experience, but that doesn't mean they KNOW A DAMNED THING about the real world of Recorded Music as a business! For those who perform and are thus mentally challenged, I prefer "Beer Joint Baritone" as it more accurately covers those seeking their fortune via recorded music WITHOUT knowing one twit of how that segment of the industry really works. At least Beer Joint Baritones have done something besides swallow phony-baloney hype and nonsense, they have invested in themselves.
Performing Artists are preyed on just as much as non-performing poets and songwriters.
For wannabe recording artists, the 'critique' and 'audition' congames are rampant. Ask those who want paid for such scams to put up a $100,000.00 bond to insure their information is accurate - that by following their advice the song/production will or will not work as they suggest - guaranteed. Then guard your ear drums when they inform you "nobody can predict such things". And watch them squirm at the question, "Then why the hell is your opinion any better than mine?" Track record be damned, the fact is, your opinion is as good as anybody else's! They're right about one thing, "nobody can predict", including long term record executives. Requiring a put-up or shut-up slams the door on their congame 'services'. If these people really knew so much, they'd be long-established Super Stars themselves. Bank on it.
For songwriters, a few years ago, the best song-submission demos were living room versions, one instrument, one vocal, vocal up front. That is NO LONGER the case! Today you need a slick, AIR QUALITY, Master; submitted in multiple copies – ONE PUBLISHER AT A TIME! Neither Publishers nor Record Labels will 'bid' for you, simply because they don't have to. They are over-loaded with material and 'talent' everyday, all day long. If you want to get through all that falderal, HIRE AN AGENT! If professional performing artists, novelists, playwrites, et cetera, top-to-bottom need to have agents to represent them properly, why souldn't professional songwriters be a least as equally astute?
Recording Artist demos are in the SAME BOAT, and except for the business application (Publishing vs Recording Contract), the business rules are the same. Most demo 'services' (offering full bands), like virtually all 'compilations', want to use your money to get themselves auditioned. Simple as that. So make damned sure the finished product is BOTH air quality and a Finished Production Master! Who knows? The damned thing MIGHT WORK! The adage "it begins with a song" is true, but somewhere, somebody is going to have to put cold hard cash in the game. While publishing is free to songwriters, neither publishers nor record companies are bottomless pits of money. And right there is the first open door to song sharks and scam operations.
The fact publishing is free to songwriters does NOT establish anything else as being free anywhere in the rest of this Best Of All Industries. Idiot elements and Beer Joint Baritones think it does, thus justifying the titles. Both hold the delusion that recording, production, mastering, artwork, manufacture, promotion, distribution, accounting, administrative and related costs are free to the 'signed' artist based on that "publishing is free to songwriters" fact. Cousin Chucklehead being Grand Master of that Parade.
Ask anyone who holds such nonsense as god, law and gospel if they've ever heard tell of "charge back" or "recoupables". It's a ninety to one shot they'll think you're speaking an extra terrestrial language! The "charge back" cum "recoupables" factor means each and every penny expended (or reputed to have been expended) by the investor, usually the record label, must be repaid in full including all accrued interests, before the artist receives one red cent other than remnants of any 'front' money, 'advances' or 'living expenses' while on tour. Even those are added back in to the due and payable column of said "recoupables", right along with any public performance (air play/live venue use royalties) and mechanical (record sales) earnings.
Did you really get that?
Artists must pay back the entire investment! One way or another. Usually at inflated rates. Seven out of eight records don't sell any commercial copies at all, and nineteen out of twenty don't sell enough to pay for the record investment alone. That's why finance-the-pipe-dream record contracts require charge back and attach the artist's live performances and all other sources of income as well, ultimately turning the dream into a financial nightmare.
Abuses of "charge back" are the foundation blocks of horror stories about labels seeming to rob their artists. Bo Diddley, Meatloaf, Toni Braxton, TLC, Dixie Chicks and Clint Black are all well known examples of selling huge amounts of product (at least according to the hype), receiving little or no money, and still owing the record company. Because none of those artists put any money into the deal when they 'got signed'. And all of it very legal and duly approved by so-called 'entertainment' attorneys.
Many artists sue to get their reputed (performance/mechanical) earnings without having a clue that all those earnings were signed away to the label/investors upon signaturing the contract - on advice of aforesaid 'entertainment' attorneys. Others caught in the "charge back" squeeze declare bankruptcy not knowing they can't usually bankrupt out of such debt!
By law, if you make an honest investment you are entitled to attempt to exploit an honest return on it. The record company made the investment and therefore is entitled to exploit for return by all legal means. And, that investment includes far more than just records! Market testing cum artist development (primarily advertising, which includes buying radio air time for the "push" song), grooming (if you could call it that), concert tour support, show preparation, travel, security, accounting, administration and all other related business logistics costs. In short, a lot of money. Money that must return a profit, like any other venture. What airplay, live venue use and record sales don't cover, performance earnings will, at least in theory.
And what does that have to do with song shark scams? Everything! If you strip the glory nonsense and think "business". Recording contracts reputedly paying all the bills are shelving contracts intended to take the victim out of competition or to perpetuate the delusion of being given that non-existent free million dollars this industry is supposed to accord. Perpetuating delusions is cheaper than fighting competition because those who believe the delusions never put themselves into competition. The only charge back escape is to know what you're doing, based on sound business principals rather than trying to re-invent those ages-old never-did-work Beer Joint Baritone delusions, and lay some of your own bucks on the table.
One cold hard fact about any business, it takes money and expertise to avoid financial suicide. Music and Entertainment in all its forms are no exception. Never-did-work myths and delusions notwithstanding. Never did. Never will. Whether it's "your poem set to music" (the same music every other poem gets); "professional lead sheets" (that haven't been used since the invention of cassettes); "your song in an album" (that you can throw as far as they can); "compilations" (you pay the bills to deliver their music to a string of nothing-in-the-market stations); or 'management' that comes with you paying to work for them rather than the other way around. Only the deluded ever fall for any of those, but there are a lot of very deluded wannabes in the world.
The odds against 'being discovered' are infinite. But that doesn't mean you can't be in competition as long as you remember one fact above all others: being in the business of being an entertainer is being in the business of being an entertainer! Talent, or lack of it, has very little, and usually nothing, to do with it. It's a business. Not a glory trip, not a delusion, not a myth. It's a hard investment-requiring, expertise-based, sound business management-demanding business.
When it comes to investment it's always a prudent move to know which are honest investments with normal business risks and which are outright scams or myth-based delusions. Neither lawyers nor the Industry-at-Large can afford to have wannabes to KNOW about the rights, titles, interests and financial privileges of being one's own Executive Producer! Both deliberately perpetuate those long-standing delusions for which Aunt Ninny, Uncle Stupid and Cousin Chucklehead are so 'expert', and all Beer Joint Baritones and Idiot Elements hold as God, Law and Gospel. Paying a publisher? Out of the question. Being an Executive Producer without investment? Even farther out of the question.
Executive Producer? Correct. Executive Producer.
First, you have to know what an Executive Producer (ExP) actually is. According to all legal precedents, its narrow term is "Chief Financial Officer". That means "who pays the bills". In recorded music, motion pictures and television it also means who either "owns" the product or represents the investors who do own it! Which, authoritatively, is exactly the same thing.
Who ever pays for a product is the ExP and owns it. And that includes the right to exploit it for profit in perpetuity. Even if that in turn means exploiting the artist in the process as explained above! When a record company pays for production, they are ExP! They own the masters and all relevant contractual embindments to it - including artist performance earnings - until their investment is repaid. Then they can own those masters forever. All very legal. And something business-prudent artists want to avoid. But that is going to take money this side of the record company. Nobody is going to pay all the bills and then give somebody else all the profit, including wannabe recording artists and songwriters.
Television provides the best current ExP examples. Note the credits of Peter Falk's "Columbo", Andy Griffith's "Mayberry, RFD" and "Matlock", Angela Landsbury's "Murder, She Wrote", James Arness' "Gun Smoke" and Oprah Winfrey who owns her show under the corporate name of "Harpo" (Oprah spelled backwards). All are ExPs of their respective programs, even if in association with fellow investors.
Examination of record credits reveal many artists, or their corporate entity, paid for the product and made all other relevant investments with respect to it. Nothing new. Been around for ages. Even predates Classic Radio. Now you know why such stalwarts as David Bowie, James Brown and Michael Jackson resorted to junk bonds, and why Rene hocked his home on behalf of Celine Dion's recording career. They all needed money for their ExP share of investment. And that ExP share requires more than just recording sessions and production.
Make sure you understand, anybody can be their own Executive Producer who has the money to pay for it! So if you're an artist and not into 'waiting to be discovered', being your own ExP is always an option. The same is true for songwriters who are tired of waiting for their music to get recorded. Money talks. Being ExP in whole or in part can be your best option when sound business principals are applied with prudent expertise, and not myths or Beer Joint Baritone delusions. Songwriter or artist, you'll want a legitimate deal on the table before you invest one penny in production, rather than "shopping" a finished product nobody wants because there's no money on the table with it.
Artists who are their own ExP have a 100% choice of recording their own compositions the way they want to, and get paid for songwriter, ExP and artist, increasing potential return on investment (ROI) in the process. As your own ExP you'll own your masters, avoiding never-ending court fights that only profit the lawyers. You'll own your career, artist management and all, including the image you prefer and all rights to it free and clear, something every artist wants and no 'signed' artist ever gets. All are bargaining chips to put on the monetary table. And you'll still own your soul and a true and accurate accounting of expenses and profits when all the counting is done.
You'll need your business house in order and a sound business plan to get the required investment capital, unless you're already financially endowed. Legitimate record companies will help you with all three. Do your homework. With any legitimate licenser, you should be required to invest no more than one third the total initial promotion budget as ExP, have the option of buying the label rights without owning the label and retaining publishing by simply paying those shares.
Song sharks? They're out there. Waiting for the next "never-did-it-themselves-know-it-all". When you encounter a request for investment in your music, be sure to determine how much of the product you're going to own, right along with all other devil-laden details. Requests to sign over any part of composition (which is not publishing) to the people you're paying is the first clue of a congame. All seven General Licensers will get you a label and an investing publisher if you don't have the cash to cover those shares of the budget. Immediate turn downs mean they just don't have the available money. Period.
Talking to a producer or label? The instant you hear "points" with respect to money/earnings, or a requirement to buy copies, make them a new door on your way out! It's a scam-you situation. You'll want to know the ExP's share of promotion; who owns, and invests in, the publishing; and who owns the artist management and booking. In short, who are your business partners and how much are they spending? And most importantly, which of the seven remaining General Licensers is going to handle distribution and foreign licensing. If the label isn't distributed by one of the Super Seven or a true National, its worthless. Even the mini-majors are affiliated with one or more of the Super Seven despite the fact that six are in massive debt and struggling with mergers and acquisitions.
FYI, the Super Seven are: Bertlesmann (BMG), Capitol/EMI, Sony (CRG), Vivendi (URMG), Walt Disney (WDC), Warner Bros. (WEA) and Vandor (VMG). There are several like Koch (Canada) with National or next-door-neighbor International coverage, but only the Super Seven are global. And of those, only VMG is debt free.
Entertainment and Recorded Music as businesses are far more complex than most people suppose. There are a lot of factors that make or break any project depending on actual expertise and quality of management. To weed out the complexities of this Best Of All Industries we offer free access to our website - vmgworldwide.com - where the foundation blocks are spelled out in far more detail. And a lot more critical information not covered here. Once you have and understand the information in our site, you'll be far better prepared to deal with any and all other entities in this crazy business.
Who ever you ultimately do business with, and even if you quit altogether after learning the facts, we wish you the very best. Just don't pay a song shark. Regardless of their disguise.
And don't think every request for investment is 'paying for publishing' or some other scam as the lying, thieving bastards at ASCAP, BMI and SESAC will certainly claim. And YES! I'm ready for Court any time they are!
When you know the business realities of the business you're in, there's room for you too. And, Recorded Music and Entertainment is the BEST OF ALL INDUSTRIES!
