Entertainment / Music
1ns and 2s with DJ-Sticha - Nothing but the truth about record deals (Advantages and disadvantages)
09 Dec 2015 at 06:47hrs | Views
Angibingelele uzulu wonke nje I hope you're all good. If you have been following my articles from last week, am pretty sure you did pick one or two useful things from that.
Now that marketing your music is out of the way (Has been covered), let's move on to our next issue:
"Record deals"
First things first, what is a record deal?
A recording contract (commonly called a record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote.
Once again, I did mention in my past article the sole purpose of Record Labels they sign you, produce, record, promote you and your work and then get their cut from all that, my question is do you know who gets what in such a deal?, worry not uphethe mina I'll explain it to you in details.
In my line of business I meet plenty start-up artists whose sole wish is to get signed by a major record label. The hard working few who eventually do get signed come to a shocking discovery: that it is the artist who gets the smallest peace of the pie when it comes to album sales revenue with most artists getting paid between 8% and 15% of the CD's retail value. So who earns what when a consumer buys a CD at a record store e.g. Musica, Look And Listen, Reliable Warehouse, Jet Music etc. To illustrate this dissection let's assume your record labels sells each CD for R120, ihamba kanje lento.
Record store:
First to take their piece of the pie is record store that inflates the CD price. So a R100 CD can be sold for R120 so that the record store can pocket the R20. This is because they pay for rent in Malls and Shopping Centres, they pay electricity and also have to pay the in-store staff who unpacks, shelf, merchandise and sell your CD. You have R100 left.
Distributors:
Distributors usually keep about 25% of a products retail price. This is because the distributor ensures that the CD is moved from the warehouse to the retail store shelves. Examples of popular CD distributors in South Africa are Universal, Iris, Electromode, Gallo, Independent and Music Distributors. You have about R75 left.
The Record Label:
Record Label signs, develops, records, promotes, publicizes and sell the artist's music. All these things require huge financial investments and mostly take place before the album even gets into the store. For this reason, the Record Label keeps the biggest slice of the cake, about 63%.
Examples of major labels in South Africa are Gallo, Sony, EMI and BMG records while local indie labels include Kalawa Jazzmee Records, 999 Music, Soul Candi, David Gresham Records and TS Records. You now have about R12 left.
The Band:
You are a band. Yes, even when you are a solo artist you still are looked at as a band. The band consists of the singer/vocalist; the instrumentals player (bass, drums, guitars, beat programmers); the producer; the business manager; and the personal manager. All these entities share on the remaining R12 left.
This is how it is shared: You can do your own research (ngendawo okuyo)
Vocalist = R2.34
Instrumentation Players = R7.02 (In most cases abantu abaningi use production soft-wares to make beats"Beat Composer")
Producer = R0.39
Personal Manager = R1.95
Business Manager (aka Accounts Man) = R0.65
Lawyer = R1.95
Another complex deduction that takes place under the Band's slice is the songwriter deduction which is around 9 cents for every copy of the song sold. I will unpack this in detail in future articles. Below is an inside info of how much musicians ideally make per CD sold.
In essence, an average musician who doesn't make or own his beats makes only R2.34 per CD sold. This picture quickly disperses the myth that obtaining a Gold or Platinum CD sales status will make you rich.It is for this precise reason that I personally advocate for the releasing of albums independently.
Empeleni the standard contract for an artist deal is 8%, what does that mean you ask?, ok it means if you make R2 000 000 from your album, you only get R160 000.
My advice: work hard as an independent artist and invest in your brand, that means you'll spend a lot of money but also means you'll own your work therefore you'll get a lot of money if you are business minded. Don't go out hunting for a record deal (ngoba ufun' ukuba famous), I mean what's the point of being famous and all that if you can't house yourself or put food on the table?
But not all is doom and gloom as there are areas of the entertainment industry which favour the vocalist financially. A good example of this is income from live performances as well as brand endorsements. That is a topic for another day though.
Sabelana ngolwazi
Asikhule kwezomculo.Njengenjwayelo,halla at me on social media post your comments and questions,okaMpangazitha umtwana uyabonga.
Let's meet again on Friday,same time same place different topic.
Facebook:Dj-Sticha-Mixking
Twitter: @DeejaySticha
Now that marketing your music is out of the way (Has been covered), let's move on to our next issue:
"Record deals"
First things first, what is a record deal?
A recording contract (commonly called a record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote.
Once again, I did mention in my past article the sole purpose of Record Labels they sign you, produce, record, promote you and your work and then get their cut from all that, my question is do you know who gets what in such a deal?, worry not uphethe mina I'll explain it to you in details.
In my line of business I meet plenty start-up artists whose sole wish is to get signed by a major record label. The hard working few who eventually do get signed come to a shocking discovery: that it is the artist who gets the smallest peace of the pie when it comes to album sales revenue with most artists getting paid between 8% and 15% of the CD's retail value. So who earns what when a consumer buys a CD at a record store e.g. Musica, Look And Listen, Reliable Warehouse, Jet Music etc. To illustrate this dissection let's assume your record labels sells each CD for R120, ihamba kanje lento.
Record store:
First to take their piece of the pie is record store that inflates the CD price. So a R100 CD can be sold for R120 so that the record store can pocket the R20. This is because they pay for rent in Malls and Shopping Centres, they pay electricity and also have to pay the in-store staff who unpacks, shelf, merchandise and sell your CD. You have R100 left.
Distributors:
Distributors usually keep about 25% of a products retail price. This is because the distributor ensures that the CD is moved from the warehouse to the retail store shelves. Examples of popular CD distributors in South Africa are Universal, Iris, Electromode, Gallo, Independent and Music Distributors. You have about R75 left.
The Record Label:
Record Label signs, develops, records, promotes, publicizes and sell the artist's music. All these things require huge financial investments and mostly take place before the album even gets into the store. For this reason, the Record Label keeps the biggest slice of the cake, about 63%.
Examples of major labels in South Africa are Gallo, Sony, EMI and BMG records while local indie labels include Kalawa Jazzmee Records, 999 Music, Soul Candi, David Gresham Records and TS Records. You now have about R12 left.
The Band:
You are a band. Yes, even when you are a solo artist you still are looked at as a band. The band consists of the singer/vocalist; the instrumentals player (bass, drums, guitars, beat programmers); the producer; the business manager; and the personal manager. All these entities share on the remaining R12 left.
This is how it is shared: You can do your own research (ngendawo okuyo)
Vocalist = R2.34
Instrumentation Players = R7.02 (In most cases abantu abaningi use production soft-wares to make beats"Beat Composer")
Producer = R0.39
Personal Manager = R1.95
Business Manager (aka Accounts Man) = R0.65
Lawyer = R1.95
Another complex deduction that takes place under the Band's slice is the songwriter deduction which is around 9 cents for every copy of the song sold. I will unpack this in detail in future articles. Below is an inside info of how much musicians ideally make per CD sold.
In essence, an average musician who doesn't make or own his beats makes only R2.34 per CD sold. This picture quickly disperses the myth that obtaining a Gold or Platinum CD sales status will make you rich.It is for this precise reason that I personally advocate for the releasing of albums independently.
Empeleni the standard contract for an artist deal is 8%, what does that mean you ask?, ok it means if you make R2 000 000 from your album, you only get R160 000.
My advice: work hard as an independent artist and invest in your brand, that means you'll spend a lot of money but also means you'll own your work therefore you'll get a lot of money if you are business minded. Don't go out hunting for a record deal (ngoba ufun' ukuba famous), I mean what's the point of being famous and all that if you can't house yourself or put food on the table?
But not all is doom and gloom as there are areas of the entertainment industry which favour the vocalist financially. A good example of this is income from live performances as well as brand endorsements. That is a topic for another day though.
Sabelana ngolwazi
Asikhule kwezomculo.Njengenjwayelo,halla at me on social media post your comments and questions,okaMpangazitha umtwana uyabonga.
Let's meet again on Friday,same time same place different topic.
Facebook:Dj-Sticha-Mixking
Twitter: @DeejaySticha
Source - DJ Sticha
