|
|
| Discrimination | Recording Contracts |
| Civil Rights Act of 1991 |
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. Artists under contract are normally only allowed to record for that label exclusively; guest appearances on other artists' records will carry a notice "By courtesy of (the name of the label)", and that label may receive a percentage of sales. Labels typically own the copyright in the records their artists make, and also the master copies of those records. An exception is when a label makes a distribution deal with an artist; in this case, the artist, their manager, or another party may own the copyright (and masters), while the record is licensed exclusively to the label for a set period of time. Promotion is a key factor in the success of a record, and is largely the label's responsibility, as is proper distribution of records. While initial recording deals usually yield a relatively small percentage of royalties to artists, subsequent (or renegotiated) deals can result in much greater profit, or profit potential. A few performers, such as Michael Jackson, have signed multimillion-dollar contracts. (As a rule, though, for the millions to become tangible, hit records meeting or exceeding their previous sales records must follow; Michael Jackson's proposed "billion-dollar deal" would have required all his records following Bad to have sold as well as his watermark album Thriller; none have come close.) Recording contracts may include opt-out clauses, in the event an artist's popularity dips or they release one or more non-hits under the deal; Mariah Carey was bought out of her Records contract after her one album release with the label sold poorly.
|
| Federal Sector EEOC |
Unless worded otherwise, any advances or upfront money paid to a
recording artist is owed back to the label, whether the recordings to
follow sell well or not. Capitol Records suspended Linda Ronstadt's
contract in the early 1970s, but she continued to tour partly to pay
Capitol back for her 1960s deal, which cost Capitol more than it had
yielded. (Her string of hits in the mid-1970s allowed her to finally
clear the debt.) Labels expect to make a profit, and little concern
themselves with a given performer's lack of business or financial
savvy, as artists such as George Michael have discovered. "Walking
out" on a deal is very difficult, as is attempting to strike a new
deal without completing an old one; recordings released by Donna
Summer and by members of
Boston (calling themselves "Orion the Hunter") were pulled from
distribution after their former labels took legal action. The Mamas
and the Papas were forced into a reunion years after their 1968
breakup, by the letter of their Dunhill Records contract, which
required one more album to be completed (1971's People Like Us).
|
