Yup, Pretty Much...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Here is an interesting blog post from Too Much Joy, an “alternative” (read: college rock) band from the late 80s and early 90s that you might or might not be familiar with. They were on Warner Bros. for four of their albums, and he just got an interesting royalty statement. It’s worth a read, as it gives a good insight in to how this whole business works.
I’m in a not-dissimilar position, with the caveat that TVT went out of business not too long ago. I’m unrecouped to the tune of around $400,000 or so, which is probably more than the Orchard paid in total for the entire Wax Trax! catalog. Now I owe (where “owe” equals something different than it does in normal English) the Orchard $400,000. Occasionally I get a royalty statement from them, where they cheerfully inform me of the comical sales figures they manage to gin up.
This is doubly humorous because those four albums they own each individually sold more than all the albums I’ve made since, and were supported with multi-hundred-date tours, massive ad buys, placements on major studio motion picture soundtracks, and reviews in every music magazine worth a shit, and plenty that aren’t. Yet somehow they earn between 1/100th and 1/1000th of what our self-released SMG albums earn.
On the other hand, though, I own all my own publishing, so the Orchard has to actually pay me actual money twice a year, unlike many bands who make the ultimate stupid decision to sign their publishing to the label. The checks are so small that I sometimes forget to cash them, I’m embarrassed to admit, but they do come, which is something, I guess.
There’s no real point to this post other than to perhaps provide an object lesson. I got to ride around in a bus for 6 years and play music every night, which fucking rules, so I’m not bitching in the slightest. I’m just pointing out how odd this business can be.
10 comments
This was my favorite line:
**The whole conference took place at a semi-swank hotel on the island of St. Thomas, which is a funny place to gather to talk about how to save the music business, but that would be a whole different diatribe.
The music industry is a fascinating place. I guess when you're a young, rising musician you don't really read or understand these contracts and you get swept away in the excitement of becoming a "signed" artist and before you know it, you've given away your future for a one-time advance. Amazing.
In many respects, I am spoiled w/ Dischord. Very clear, transparent accounting, simple and fair terms, no byzantine contractual weirdness, and a real-life ethical mission statement at the heart of the operation.
Ian and I argue fiercely on occasion --- as you might imagine, neither of us is uncomfortable with confrontation --- but I love the guy profoundly and there's no question that he loves and respects artists. This is reflected in how the label is set up and run.
My only encounters with the major label world were lucrative circumstances for me precisely because I was NOT the artist. As a producer or technician, you can really get PAID. On one project, I came to the private revelation that I was making a lot more than the entire band. I didn't share this; kept it to myself. There would have been no point. I just noted that, in that strange world, "suits" are valued more highly than the artist. And producers are often paid like "suits."
I think there is an insidious concept underlying the major label contract and it is this simple notion:
The artist is being paid in "fun."
- c
accountants rule the world.
Yeah, when I was just on Wax Trax!, it was as Chad describes. More of a family than a business. But, as such things go, that family went out of business and was bought by TVT, which was run much more like a traditional label.
On the other paw, I'm 2 for 2 in putting labels out of business. You want your shit to fail? Sign me up!
-CR
Problem with 'families' is when the mad Uncle raids the piggy bank...
Hi,
the link to the article isn't working
Cheers
"the link to the article isn't working"
looks like maybe his bandwidth has been exceeded. server error. the whole site is down not just that page.
Randall, you broke the internet again.
That's how I roll.
-CR
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