ION INDIE MAGAZINE January 2017, Volume 32 | Page 49

Here’s a quick quiz to try to illustrate the point.
Q: Website A charges an annual fee and charges a per-song pitch fee. Service B charges no annual fee or
per-song fees, and even does the pitching for you--but it takes 50 percent of any upfront fees collected.
Which one is crooked?
A: It’s a trick question. The answer is, neither of them. The examples above are from two different services
we’ve personally used, and through each of them we have successfully placed songs. They are using
different business models that are based on different fee structures. But a quick rule of thumb: If you
had to pick between Website A and Service B, the structure of B is usually a better deal for you.
2. Asking for your publishing without upfront payment. So you’ve had some success, and now you’ve been
approached by a publisher who would like to represent your catalog. Should you sign? If they want your
publishing, remember: that means they want control of your works. That’s literally transfer of ownership,
and like anything else purchased, there should be compensation. Clearly, the publisher finds your work
valuable enough to pursue you; shouldn’t that be worth something up front? Now keep in mind: just
because someone offers you a deal like this, that doesn’t mean they’re not legit. It just means you’re
starting off at a negotiating position that happens to be lousy for you. Work your way up from there; if
they’re truly interested, they won’t walk away.
3. Someone says, “You don’t need a lawyer, just sign it.” With any type of contract, it’s always best to have
an attorney look it over. While it’s probably a bit excessive to bring in your lawyer to review that extended
warranty at Best Buy, it’s not the worst idea. And a contract with a booking agent, a manager, or a
publisher is worth far more than a lousy smartphone. It’s kind of like buying a car. If the salesman tells
you this is a one-time only deal--and will never happen again unless you sign right now--the entire
dealership is probably shady and you need to walk away. And if someone tells you their contract doesn’t
need to be reviewed, they’re lying, no question.
4. A guarantee of success. Absolutely NO ONE can guarantee they will turn you into a star. I don’t care the
connections they claim to have, how many hits they claim credit for, how much money they have, etc.
There is NO GUARANTEE of any type of success in a creative business like music. Unless they have a
documented, proven track record of success with similar artists, you should strongly consider going
somewhere else.
THE FIRST TIMER’S DEAL:
And even as much as I try to tell you these principles are certain, none of them are absolutes. It brings up the
kind of deal I call the “first-timer’s deal”. And this one’s a real example--with the names changed to protect the
asshat who offers it:
A certain prominent hip hop music mogul is known to offer a deal to a producer pitching him a beat for the first
time. If he likes their work, they have two choices:
a) The mogul buys the beat for $500, the producer gets credit on the track, and the door remains open to work
toget her - for better money - on future tracks, or