WHY MUSICIANS NEED TO OWN THEIR MASTERS: The Truth About Major Labels

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So there's been a lot in the press recently about record label contracts, specifically Kanye's. So in this video I break down the importance of owning masters, how record labels work and all the vital information you need to know.
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Hey! I'm Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is deeply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.
When I was 18, I was signed to a major label (dropped 6 months later) and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!
I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my RU-vid channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, RU-vid channel and I work directly with labels internationally alongside owning a live agency and management company.
It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!
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Опубликовано:

30 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 315

@jpnavarromusic 4 года назад

The music space is getting cleaner and easier to understand because of guys like you. Thanks for sharing this knowledge!

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Glad to help, that’s what I’m here for!

@ARTofKeonXavier 2 года назад

Actual Factuals

@akiko1698 4 года назад

Great vid man im completely overwhelmed by all the things that go in to starting a music career can u sugest any of ur vids i should whach that exsplane it all

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Honestly best place is to get into DKMBA where I take you through everything you need step by step 😊 www.dk-mba.com

@akiko1698 4 года назад

@@DamianKeyes thanks man ill do that as soon as

@joneseyjonesg Месяц назад

How can you hold your masters when the producer owns the copyright

@OmarOmarOmar 4 года назад

Unfortunately musicians will never really own their masters if they're with a major label. I don't care what anyone says, if you are a struggling musician who has been grinding for 10 years and a major label offers you a 5-6 figure advance, you will take that no matter what. Sure, you can do things on your own. Recording music on your own is easy now. But if you want a decent music video, you're looking at 5-10k minimum. You'll also need to spend money marketing your music. Spotify is basically a pay for playlisting scheme now, not to mention paying influencers to help push your songs and whatever else you need to do to market your music. Let's not forget about touring which costs a LOT of money. You also need to make sure content is being uploaded on your socials very regularly. If a label says "we can pay for all of that, we want your masters though", you aint gonna be foolish enough to walk away from that.

@sunnygobmanasse 6 месяцев назад

😂😂😂🔥

@SleepingYouSoftlyTV 4 года назад

Own your music career, own the masters, either DIY marketing or just hire a third party publicist and create your own team.

@MichaelOrtegaExtra 4 года назад

If you don’t own your masters... Masters own you!

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Haha so true 😊😊

@supermanyoski3360 3 года назад

true

@smoothpants Год назад

Prince said that first. Give proper credit.

@sneakerbay1836 Год назад

So pretty much if you sign a label you’ll have to maintain steady “hits “ until your contract is fulfilled If you own your masters you’re pretty much your own boss and don’t have to answer to nobody

@zapcolvelle 3 месяца назад

True 😂😂😂

@SolarHeavy 4 года назад

I love being 100% Indie, and have been for 7 years!

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Love that!!

@atherton7662 4 года назад

Hey I love your song while the world sleeps. Dope to see you here in the RU-vid comments 🙌🏻

@jeremymardis5590 4 года назад

Do you use a distributor like cdbaby ect... ?

@SolarHeavy 4 года назад

@@atherton7662 Awesome seeing people recognize my music like that, thanks :)

@SolarHeavy 4 года назад

@@jeremymardis5590 I use Distrokid, I personally like the one yearly fee, upload all you want model. Keeps the creativity and music flowing :)

@tomogutu 4 года назад

Prince was always talking about how important it is to own ur masters since the 90s

@ParadymShiftVegan 4 года назад

This just feels to me like more of a testament to how labels are becoming outdated as we move into the digital age where self made is much more possible and realistic.

@3xAudio 4 года назад

nice, gonna own all my own masters for the label my friend is setting up. no sneaky deals in case we fall out down the road lol.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

Love the fact you are making so much money from your music! Well done

@3xAudio 4 года назад

@@rODIUMuk it was pretty much a joke i haven't even released anything yet haha

@thesuncollective1475 4 года назад

Prince, George Michael..They knew and we thought they were nobs..we were wrong

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

They killed their careers though

@Malitubee 3 года назад

Labels are about to be more and more irrelevant in the coming years as the ability to promote yourself via social media is becoming increasingly more and more prevalent

@hugonongbri8100 3 года назад

Imagine the amount of careers that would've been saved if this kind of content was available in the last cnetury

@jelledittmar 4 года назад

Dude, the amount of high quality content you can deliver is mighty impressive! Respect man

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Thanks dude!

$@fractalreptillian6985$

@fractalreptillian6985 4 года назад

My Label Deathstar Cult Ltd does not offer advances. But, we do have a 50-50 split for the artist on all royalties. We also have a buy back option in the contract to protect the Artist. They can give us 500$ plus any un recovered cost and the master belongs to them again. No one has exercised the buy back option because we have so many things of value we offer them But in the chance their track goes viral they can drop some cash and own their track. It makes it harder for us as a company to make $ but its a good look in this quickly evolving scene. And at the end of the day we are in this business out of love of Music. The owners are all Musicians as well and we sign the exact same contracts the artists do. I wont give a contract to anyone that I myself wouldnt sign

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Interesting - how are you finding the landscape right now?

$@fractalreptillian6985$

@fractalreptillian6985 4 года назад

@@DamianKeyes honestly the word in our circle is that Covid is the best thing to happen for us in a long time. Its allowing us to posture ourselves and blast past tons of gatekeepers. We have over 60 artists and everyone is collaborating and instructing each other in our Discord. We have a family vibe and everyone is really good about supporting eachother. We see this whole pandemic as an opportunity to build the core fan base and get ourselves prepped and ready to rip when this all eventually passes. Everyone is itching to hit the road again still. We are about to follow Subsidias lead and drop a big compilation of over 50 tracks along with a merch line at our 1 year anniversary February 23rd. Prior to this there was such an over saturation in the scene that we didnt feel like we had a chance. But now we feel we do.

@FirebrandEntertainment 4 года назад

Fractal Reptillian would love to chat with you offline if possible.

$@fractalreptillian6985$

@fractalreptillian6985 4 года назад

@@FirebrandEntertainment send me an email to deathstarcult@gmail.com Id love to have a chat

@daveanthonylucas 3 года назад

@@fractalreptillian6985 can I send you a mail too?

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

This isn’t cut and dry. I got more money selling the masters of demos to majors than most artists will make today. 100% of nothing is nothing

@Ghosty716 3 года назад

So do you just suggest an artist giving a label their masters in a record deal? I don't know much I assume you get a much higher advance if they own your master but in the long you could've probably made much more if you kept it for a lower advance

@JawJX 3 года назад

@@Ghosty716 watch the video

@julierose4337 4 года назад

Would love to see a video where you discuss any kind of record deal where artists don't get screwed or how to make sure you negotiate it so you come out better on the other side. Maybe that doesn't really exist. I haven't heard of any record deal where people don't get the piss taken out of them.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

Loads of artists don’t get screwed. Loads of famous artists you know have never recouped

@SigmaChirality 2 года назад

Sometimes the only way to win is to not play at all.

@Scyber_Official 4 года назад

I wanna see a Tampax commercial that uses music from Royal Blood 🤔😆

@JeremyAbbottMusic 4 года назад

As a business owner I enjoyed this. Many times per month I'm negotiating and looking to outsmart the other guy.

@richiegomezmusic 4 года назад

Nowadays it is very important to build a business around your music. Getting the knowledge and preparation is crucial. Thanks Damian!!

@iankamau222 4 года назад

No..... you do need to know.. putting your faith in a lawyer is just like putting your faith in a label.. knowing what a lawyer is looking for on a basic level means you can notice if the lawyer is accustom to the way the label contracts work and think it’s fine.... it’s lawyers that have created and facilitated these contracts for years so you need to be watching them too:. even when it is your lawyer and not (obviously) the label lawyer

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

That is a high level of paranoia. Have you ever tried to read a major label contact? I suggest you go try and read Kanye’s 100 pages he posted and see what sections you understand. You need to find a lawyer you trust because if you try and do this yourself you will be another broke musician paying the labels for your art

@bobirdieboberto2752 2 года назад

Listen to Baby Step Records ARTIST BOBIRDIE Video Freedom Of Speech LEAVE A COMMENT Have A GREAT Day

@scottnoricsson2023 4 года назад

OKay, Mr Damien, can you please explain to me how on Earth is it possible for a rap recording to cost 3 million to record it in a studio? I mean, it's not like Ron Nevison is going to produce it, and it's not like Kanye would have to record rhythm guitar one string at a time ( Mutt Lange, Hysteria, remember)... so, what's the catch?

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

He has a lot of live musicians and some of those are signed and ant huge fees

@joechapman8208 4 года назад

He didn't say that. 3 mil is the advance. That's the label saying, "Here's your money to live off until we recoup and you start earning a royalty share from this again". But, as Damien said, that 3 mil is separate from the cost of recording and promotion (which is massive for a big album), the cost of sleeve designs, all the promos, etc which are going on your bill too.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

Joe Chapman true. And embarrassingly you probably only get like £100,000 out of that to keep!!! And as you know , most artists get more than that off of Spotify

@troyisom465 3 года назад

I was thinking the same thing

@MondoLoops 4 года назад

Man masters / royalty types / contracts etc. are so confusing haha thanks for shedding some light on this

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Not a problem!! 😊😊

@Draber2b 4 года назад

And befor the mastering there is the mixing.. Sometimes two separate engineers to do it. To add even more.

@RealHomeRecording 4 года назад

Protip: you don't have to sign a record contract to promote your music. But if you do there are stipulations. When you sign that record deal you are getting marketing and connections. There is value in that.

@RealHomeRecording 3 года назад

@CLEAN HEART indeed. So, higher a friggin' lawyer before you sign it!

@kyledressel334 4 года назад

I appreciate you man. You take this somewhat complicated shit and spin it so that it's very easy to understand and you talk as if it's a conversation, not like a rehearsed lecture or something like that. I'm definitely a fan man

@brettmillerlive 4 года назад

Joe Biden supports Kanye West, you heard it hear first

@mel-bp1kp 4 года назад

Contracts should be renegotiated in a world pandemic

@AndrewMilnerMusic 4 года назад

Damn, I was so early this time I was actually first (no comments displayed). To be fair, this is a pretty sensitive subject. As someone who does everything on my own, I have no worries about who the owner of the masters is, but it does help when I will inevitably need to record at another place different than my own (y'know, vocals and stuff). Apparently, I need to be careful to not get duped into something. Thanks for the valuable information. Keep'em coming :D.

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

You are first! I think just having the information to make your own decisions is important 😊

@Sim2322 4 года назад

Dude, you can go record in a pro studio and not be on a label. I work in pro studios with a professionnal producer, but I'm still owning all my masters. It basically comes down to who's paying the bills, not the actual place where you record!

@AndrewMilnerMusic 4 года назад

@@Sim2322 Yeah, I finally figured that out :)). I'm still in the learning curve when it comes to the whole copyright shtick.

@Sim2322 4 года назад

@@AndrewMilnerMusic when you're ready to release, pretty much every digital distributor out there will sort you out with all you need (ISRC, UPC, collecting money from sales and streams, etc). In the case you did/paid for everything and never signed a contract (digital or otherwise), you own everything. Most likely the whole 21,58$ of it, but hey! Best of luck to you!

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

You used to get paid to record your demos , now everyone pays

@austinsummersofficial631 4 года назад

I wonder what would happen if you just don't pay back the debt and release whatever you want and ignore the contract completely. I mean what. They'll sue you? I guess? And then? I do wonder...

@faderhead 4 года назад

Important video, but you inadvertently still made it look better than it is, because you did not mention that all the recoupment comes out of your 15% of royalties, not out of the 100% of gross sales.

@phinestro 4 года назад

Only exception correct me if im wrong. When your doing library sync music strictly for tv and film and they pay some advance, with keeping your writers, usually they own masters for compete solicitation and rights to full use of song worldwide. Owning masters is great however if you have specified music not releasd but for show or big network cues , this would be the case. However self published work for sure own 100%

@captaindoeverything 3 года назад

your efforts and knowledge are much appreciated, Kanye's wife is a lawyer? and he still signed the contract? I'm not going to apologize for this statement but if you sign any contract for any reason without full knowledge and awareness of what you're committing to receives no sympathy from me. I own my masters and continue to drop music with not a manager or record label. Creating great art gives you this power.

@SummersileOfficial 4 года назад

The more you know about the music industry the more it demotivates actually

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

It is the most competitive industry asides from sport! It’s an amazing industry, just very competitive, but very rewarding too!

@SummersileOfficial 4 года назад

@@DamianKeyes well said. Big thank you for providing this kind of information! Much love from The Netherlands

@IntelligentInsights876 2 года назад

No lie if I give you money to create your music then half of that shit is mine forever.

@Maitch3000 4 года назад

The labels are loosing money on most artist and artist like Kanye West is paying for that. So on average it is actually better to take a deal with a label. For the few that are in Kanye West's situation, it sucks, but it is not like he is poor and living on the streets.

@JohnJesus 4 года назад

I own all my music - I make all the music, write the lyrics, record, mix, master.... Still make no money from my music... One reason for this is without a doubt the fact that no one else makes money if my music sells... No one else has an interest in me having success because I am the only one who will be paid. So, there are definitely advantages to others making money from your work - because they will move the asses to do some essencial work... I have to do all the work, and it is so hard to have to do it all - especially the promotion part. As an artist, my focus should be the art - yet so many of us have to do the job that is specific to 10 people or so... Its a tough tough career to make it a success.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

100 % .

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

The history of art is patronage - artists take money to make art.

@JohnJesus 4 года назад

@@rODIUMuk thats a good point....

@emmaprivate5601 4 года назад

I'm just mad that Taylor Swift talked about this 4 years ago and you all called her dramatic

@haysencheng 3 года назад

What are the upsides of being signed to a major label? I am sure there are benefits as well.

@svenodenberg9292 4 года назад

Thanks for that cool and somehow depressing vid! 3 questions: 1. Would you then recommend for any young / starting artist to not send finished music to a major label anymore at all? 2. And are there major label contracts that won't want to own your master still? 3. Would you recommend to invest the money by yourself for a pro engineer in advance of sending out "your best" demo (or does a landr master do the job and if the label likes it you would do that)? Ive seen that in another video too and it kind of makes me feel like not wanting to make music anymore at all.. because for what.. having a chance of getting broke or competing against an algorithm on spotify..or alternativly not being heard at all? Anyways, thanks for the vid!

@youaintasbadasyouthink 4 года назад

Kanye is a great example because he went from selling on tapes/vinyl (ghost production for JayZ) to CDs for his first 4 albums to now digital. So his contract really shows how outdated they can be.

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Yep definitely!

@mikewerbowy7681 4 года назад

I have watched a number of your videos and you provide some very good content. This one is largely no different but I do take exception with some of the language and terms used. You state advances are loans that need to be paid back hence referring to them as a debt. Loans are obliged to be repaid, advances are not. Recouped against sales sure, but not repaid. Stating that the advances and recording costs are a debt can suggest than an artist may need to sell off their house and possessions to repay the debt should they not sell enough records. This is not the case. Many of the most successful artists do not recoup their recording deals and simply take up additional advances as they work through option periods on their recording contract.

@tonyunderwoodmusic1607 4 года назад

Awesome video, Damien! As an “oldie Indie” musician, I can understand how thrilling and seductive a record contract can be for a young artist. Yet everyone should be very skeptical of any contract, music, your house, your car, anything. I have a few suggestions for artists.One, take a class in music contracts (I realize Damo doesn’t want to , but he has already arrived!) Two, if you get a contract, don’t commit, listen and either study and take notes and then use that to get your own investors. Make sure the money is spent together , and you take a small salary and hire your own publicist, etc. (paying for a company to advertise on tv and social with your music is one way to go!) three, ask the label to put a good number on the cost, then tell them to keep the advance and have no recoupables in the contract. Four, why couldn’t you hire a recording studio and have session musicians record your songs on your own, parallel but totally separate to the record companies recording. This way you would have your own masters with the same flavor and timing as the ones for the record company. And last, spend some of your own money and take three to five years (same time a college degree would take) and utilize Damiens and other music promotion sources and invest in yourself to market and be totally independent. It is a brave new world where teens and young adults are making 20 minute videos on RU-vid and killing it financially. While having no real skills or experience, but a hunger and curiosity, and are willing to put in the work. Believe in yourself and do it on your own first, the. Contracts will be easier to handle and deal with. Thanks for the videos, Damo!

@Musicphilsgood 4 года назад

No, see they won't agree to going to any old studio, you have to use their audio engineer that they are friends with that charges the price he names. You can't go to Billy Bobs studio. That stuff matters. *"We're going to make you famous Taylor Swift," -"hold on, can I keep my masters and record at a place in Georgia?" -"Get outta here"

@mikedoyle7300 2 года назад

I would avoid recording contracts at all costs.

@shazam1522 4 года назад

Millions have been put in to his career. Till they recoup +++ he don t deserve it

@joechapman8208 4 года назад

He's a billionaire, and could buy-out; that's not the problem. Once recouped, his contracts stop him getting ownership of his masters until at least 20 years after each album is released. That's common to most contracts musicians sign, and it's always been a grossly unfair arrangement, particularly as the industry changed and the terms got worse in general. If you're a musician, and I assume you are since you're watching this, it's amazing to me that you're taking the labels' side.

@joebough793 Год назад

I have a question, we hear about all these artists selling their masters catalogues recently (bob dylan, Motley Crue, RHCP) so by definition they owned their masters in order to sell them? How did these artists come to own their masters? Do they buy them off their label at some point in time? Did they not have « perpetuity » in their contracts? Thank you for your vidéos super interesting im just a bit confused on this point.

@RedragonReviews 10 месяцев назад

Best way to find your answers is by searching on Google. Artists and ownership of masters there alot of knowledgeable people on Reddit with threads that'll answer all your questions because people already asked the same thing

@margi6035 2 года назад

Put the credit where it belongs. Prince stood up to Warner Brothers to get his Masters into his ownership. Also, unlike others Artists, Prince did not incur costs to WB. He wrote, arranged and produced all his music. He played all instruments and sang harmony as well as vocals. He only needed a studio hired and an engineer to help him, not to engineer though. Then he built his own studio complex and did everything at Paisley Park. WB did not have many costs with Prince but didn’t credit Prince for his extra involvement. When Prince changed his name to a symbol to negate his contracts signed as Prince, everyone thought he was mad. The action of changing his name to a symbol was bringing to the public, attention as to what was happening to musicians and ownership of their intellectual property. Prince was ahead of anyone in trying to bring to the public how the music industry was involved in the theft of intellectual material long before that was a known term. WB apparently owed him $700,000,000 for overcharging but they rest easy now following his death?

@TheBlackJewelz 4 года назад

Ye absolutely does have the best discography in hip hop history. BY FAR. In fact, he probably has the best and most untouchable discography in music, period. Across all genres. The only one who I think could be beyond him in this is MJ. And that’s solely because of songs that became cultural moments like “Billie Jean,” “Man in the Mirror”, “Thriller”, “Smooth Criminal “, “Remember the Time”-which all outlived their own time and contemporaries. Outside of that, I’d be interested in someone (who actually knows Kanye’s discography & journey in depth) offering an objection to this... Just like MJ, the media has made a scapegoat and buffeting clown out of him but his discography is a modern monument that will likely go under-appreciated until another generation.

@guitaristssuck8979 4 года назад

Lol

@guitaristssuck8979 4 года назад

It's dogshit

@TheBlackJewelz 4 года назад

Guitarists Suck Very eloquent and comprehensive. You’ve convinced me.

@heckinbasedandinkpilledoct7459 Год назад

Kanye just samples most of the time. Comparing him to MJ is an absolute joke 😂😂😂

@TheBlackJewelz Год назад

@@heckinbasedandinkpilledoct7459 absolutely masterful explanation.

@AshisshBee 4 года назад

Masterclass in 12 Minutes now that called a good teacher.Thank U for the great content.

@m.a.t9197 4 года назад

I'm betting this is the video you did when you changed your shirt. Literally just going of the fact its your next upload.

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

Haha it actually isn’t! This one was shot this morning! The shirt change was Monday and Tuesdays video ;)

@SMOKINGROOVE 4 года назад

Thomas from Daft Punk was the smart one. From the beginning, they licensed their material to Virgin. That meant that they kept complete control.

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

That’s very smart!

@SMOKINGROOVE 4 года назад

@@DamianKeyes He's a friend of a friend and as far as i know, his dad was in a big band in France back in the day. He (pops) advised him to license rather than sign away. Daft Punk are still regarded as the Gods of Electronic music.

@Maitch3000 4 года назад

I read that even when Daft Punk spent a lot of time in very expensive recording studios for Random Access Memories, they paid for it them selves. It was a pretty good idea, considering how well that album turned out.

@simon_patterson 3 года назад

That's the way to do it.

@joshuastanford 4 года назад

what do you think about distributors like tunecore, distrokid?

@robschroeder8297 4 года назад

A lot of that was kind of old news, but apparently there's still people who don't know. Both Steve Albini wrote about it back in the '90s (The Problem With Music), and what he wrote back then is sadly still quite relevant today.

@youaintasbadasyouthink 4 года назад

Worst comes to worse, change your name to a symbol like Prince did ahaha

@saeefullahmohammad1402 4 года назад

If you can't get the masters from them can't you just re-record, call it a master or remastered, and make money?

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

You can re-record yep, but people love that a record was a moment of time and it’ll never be exactly the same 😊

@matthewgresty7464 4 года назад

I had the same thought! I might be wrong but, since the label will own their original master for perpetuity, they'll still be making money off it even if you do choose to create your own master. At that point, you'll be in competition with their mastered version, which will already have been distributed and far more accessible than your new version, so there's no real win there. Since I'm only speculating, it would be interesting to hear what a music lawyer has to say.

@saeefullahmohammad1402 4 года назад

@@matthewgresty7464 I was thinking on the lines of since you are the artist and you are famous you could get everyone to replace their master with yours, something like that I had in mind. Also you can do live recordings that sometimes are more popular than the original.

@grandcanyon2 3 года назад

@@DamianKeyes Not only that, a artist voice may mature or change over the years, so the recording will sound alot different, and may not connect with the people in the same way. Thats why re-recorded music never connects with people as much as the orginal. You can't fake your voice to sound like it was 10-15 years ago. It also depends alot on the age of the singer, A singer who made a top hit who is 30 and is now 40 and re-records it will sound more similar, than say a 17 year old who re-records the music at age 27 it will be drastic difference in the voice change. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w6Q3mHyzn78.html vs ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JmeJ2VsCs-0.html

@LisaDawsonmusic 4 года назад

Hi Damien! As I’m sure you’re aware, the government has banned ALL music in Northern Ireland!! Live music and recorded music is prohibited, putting thousands of musicians out of work! Can’t help but feel our government is just trying to get rid of the arts so that they don’t have to fund it anymore 🤦‍♀️ losing all hope right now!!

@studiogangsta3031 Год назад

Wow thank you very much for sharing this. You’ve made some things a lot clearer and also confirmed some thoughts about how the music industry works. Much appreciated. New subscriber by the way. Thanks 😊

@rogercraig7203 Год назад

When will the Artists all COME TOGETHER and build their OWN PLATFORM and take control of the music business and ALL REVENUES? I suggested doing this twelve years ago to many friends in the BEATLES CAMP and also had support from the AFM (largest Union for musicians in the world) but got next to no support from all the musicians. The same musicians who are now complaining about how little they are making from their own music. Why do we even need a MIDDLE MAN to handle our revenues now? Well, because we do not have OUR OWN PLATFORM! Yes, direct sales from Artist to fan should be the new way for all musicians. But the musicians NEED TO PAY to create that new Platform. Not somebody like Mr. EK who used to work for a TORRENT!

@denjamin5790 4 года назад

Super interesting! This makes total sense and I never even thought about it this way!

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

It’s an interesting world isn’t it!

@kaysha 4 года назад

But Kanye wouldn't own his tennis brand without the majors building his music brand. In my opinion, who invests owns. Who pays for the studio & etc owns the master. The reason why I bought my masters back from Sony in 2003 with the money of my 3rd & 4th albums and an independent. 9 albums later, earning very well from my back catalogue. . Speaking of Kanye, he doesn't want to give Big Sean his masters back recently, so tweets are just tweets ha

@Muravchix 4 года назад

Congrats on getting your masters back! Really nice to hear the artist is earning well off their work. I think you don’t just pay for the making of the music with the studio etc, you also “pay” with your time and your energy. But in this society / economy, money is valued much more than the “spiritual asset” so to speak. But the truth is that the artist is a lot more invested on the product than the label, so artists must own a lot more of it than they do currently. To own 85% of a master because you paid for a studio is a scam in my view. Studio expenses are nothing in comparison to the work artists put in, giving their lives to it and putting REAL WORK on it with their time, energy and soul. It’s about values. I think currently our priorities and cultural values are very skewed, which is why so very few hold so much of the wealth that everyone else has created with their efforts. It’s a scam in my opinion.

@kyledressel334 4 года назад

I don't know about Big Sean's masters cus I don't keep up with the Kardashians (get it? Haha). But I don't think it's a fair deal. And maybe it's "fair" legally, but it's scummy and unethical in my opinion. The labels should be the ones paying for the studio and getting 15%, or at least less than 50% of the masters. It's like an art studio paying for paint and being like "yeah, I own your painting now." Like, bruh. It's not their intellectual property

@Muravchix 4 года назад

@@kyledressel334 spot on

@woabeatz9717 4 года назад

Sony owes me money for love in this club by usher...

@kaysha 4 года назад

SNS SENSATION In today's society, who pays for the risk to loose their money own the product. It's not just studio, it's also promotion, manufacturing (back in the days), distribution, etc etc... The fondamental difference is that artists want to see it from an emotional point of view about their music, and companies see it as an asset, a product, an investment. Which is the reason why I quit my Sony recording and publishing deals soon as I could and got black balled and still managed to do a succesful career. But my opinions became balanced when I started signing my own artists and they started treating me as I treated my old label back then and claiming I was exploiting them 😂😂😂😂😂

@aksterremax856 4 года назад

Hello ! Sell your masters! If a deal and money are good for you ? Sell them! Like a painter who is selling his paints (masters) and he is no intendet to get them back some day. The system is good . Allows investors to invest to us. Then is up to us what kind of deal we will sign . And our responsibility . But if you are OK with being an independent artist there is many opportunities to do this. And you can be succesfull too. Lets say , there is a unknown painter Johny with a little money. One day hi sells couple of paints to a customer Jerry. Jerry said to himself "I like this painter Johnny .Let invest to his paints" . The painter Johny is happy because he got nice money and he can now invest to his art. After couple of years painter Johny becomes famous. Now a painter Johny goes to his old customer Jerry and say : "Now I changed my mind .Give my paints back! They are part of my life ,my roots!" Is this fair ?

@matthewgaines10 2 года назад

You have to be fairly talented and crafty to make money in the music industry. It helps if you own the copyrights, masters, and can promote yourself. I’d rather have a day job.

@the_platform Год назад

So hey, question: Why don't the artists just own the B-Version instead of the Master track - and just have the radio play that? And also, when someone "owns the Masters", what exactly is it that they own? Is it, like, the hard copy on which the music is recorded?

@jstarzz3780 2 года назад

Sounds like a BIG running tab racking up debt to a LOAN SHARK 🦈🤔

@carloconopio6513 11 месяцев назад

I think the main problem is the share percentage of profit between the artist and the label.if the share is 60-40. 60 for artist and 40for the label . I thinks thats fair for both of them because they need each other.

@LEX-yd4if 2 года назад

Own your own studio and equipment in your house and do what Prince did, cut the middle man and snakes from your circle. If not, you will be in debt, depressed, drug or alcohol abuser and violent. Look at their lives now and you can see they are not really happy. Be the master and not the slave. The music industry will also try to get you killed so you can't get it back.

@M3SSIAH 4 года назад

Great video! When you are a new artist, you definitely need a bigger distribution/promo and that's why so many artists give up masters to trade off. What if you duplicate a master, let's say, with different mixing technics (or just cut the sub 1hz), do they also own that master? Or now you have your own version of master? Would love to get some insights!

@TheSpudnick89 2 года назад

What's the difference when the masters are re-recorded instead of buying them back

@amosgumbo5966 2 года назад

Some of these labels are complicated and make u complicated this is why u should never sign to a label

@Dizzy_N 3 года назад

6:00 what bull shit debt can't be overcome by 65 million sales?

@katiewallace1544 4 года назад

I'd love to see a video discussing typical indie contracts vs typical major label contracts!

@chent 4 года назад

He could just buy them back like a sane person, but no, he just wants them for free because he feels intitled.

@electricpurple4112 4 года назад

oh, thought he wanted to buy them and the label wouldn' t let him...

@chent 4 года назад

@@electricpurple4112 You are probebly right, I have not seen into his rambeling. Not intending to be a hater or anything, but personally I think he is being a hypocrit.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

He sold them. Why should they sell? Should shops be able to run up in our houses and grab the groceries back that we just bought

@chent 4 года назад

@@rODIUMuk Yeah, the consept of ownership is pretty simple to most children, but he really wants it.

@jsansimusic 4 года назад

i will never give anyone my masters or ownership of my music

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

They wouldn’t want it

@jsansimusic 4 года назад

Conrad Murray oh word.. cool thanks bro

@LilRarirel 3 года назад

@@rODIUMuk i don’t think they will either😂😂

@Draber2b 4 года назад

It's lucky to be a producer who learns how to master. And additionally to not be signed to a major label. You always have the finished piece as your own. It's easier to safe yourself when sh** breaks out.

@MichaelOrtegaExtra 4 года назад

You earn more money for life In Royalties and zinc deals too

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

For sure 😊😊

@youaintasbadasyouthink 4 года назад

Having an engineer master your work, and signing a 'master' to a label is a different thing mate. You can mix/master your own track, but the label still owns the master if you sign it to them. The same goes for if you get someone to master your work, they don't automatically own a piece of it.

@shunai935 4 года назад

I have no idea what masters are hahaha. Well, let's find out

@MichaelOrtegaExtra 4 года назад

Masters are the “Master track” or “Official Final Mix” of your music. You can have “rough drafts” but when you are signed, you are not the owner of the final song.

@Draber2b 4 года назад

A mastering engineer works primarily (if not exclusively) on the master track. He needs to limit it. And he needs to make sure the stereo is good (bottom in mono, so it can be listened on vinal). Possibly eq (with very wide q usually). Also compression or harmonic enhancement is optional. That's just to name a little bit of what a mastering engineer does. (In the above example without 'mixing')

@KennyCummings 4 года назад

@@Draber2b Yes, basically this is what mastering is.

@KennyCummings 4 года назад

It's the final phase of production. Instead of tinkering with each individual track/instrument, you add subtle changed to the entire mix. These include EQ, limiting, compression, saturation, spread, exciter, etc. Mastering brings everything up to standard music industry loudness.

@davidlangranmusic 4 года назад

A master is the actual sound recording you are left with when the recording process is finished. So the record company would own that master (or sound recording). "Mastering" a song is the final phase of the recording process where the song is basically polished up. Two very different things. Hope that helps!

@georgettepratt7105 2 года назад

This is why I would never sign to a Record Label.

@jy11221 Год назад

That's robbery I'm so glad these new artist don't need these labels

@YoungBlaze 4 года назад

lol but kanye wont allow "Big Sean to get his Masters Back............soooo

@JuanData 4 года назад

“back in the day when we used to do vinyl” LOL

@samtavoosian3059 2 года назад

So similar to university business

@missmarina_xo 4 года назад

I’m so happy to see people becoming more aware of this. It’s the first step.

@markusv3000 2 года назад

Kanye has done the same to his music artists.

@airpodsvonjulius Год назад

Great informaton, thanks for that.

@AngryBrother360 3 года назад

The 🤬 industry!.💯

@craftpapii5527 2 года назад

So how do some artists get out of deals??

@alwilliams4629 Год назад

thanks for that info guy.

@justis4143 2 года назад

The tone of voice is off-putting

@a2bs333 4 года назад

communism i tell you but taking 10% for breakages kmt! LOVE YOUR VIDS AND ADVICE....ENJOY MEXICO GRACIAS HOMBRE!!

@jahboywizy 4 года назад

Good to know, thanks man, I wanna see more of your stuff

@warrentoles3127 2 года назад

So basically masters is how you market the music. 80% marketing (or higher) 20% music. Wonderful.

@dianevrules 4 года назад

You covered it. But 15% is being generous when it comes to pre-streaming/digital download era. More like 7-8%!!!!!!!!!!! Double digit % was reserved for big successful artists like Madonna or some s&^%. Which were still peanuts. Thank goodness artists dont need labels anymore to record and release music. Also, if I were Kanye, I would just re-record all the masters I dont own. That way, he will own the new masters. Due to technology, they would probably sound a lot better. The only one that wont sound better is Through The Wire. Because he recorded that with his mouth wired shut.

@TJ-vt6rt 4 года назад

I own my masters but zero listeners, still equals zero listeners.

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

Exactly!!!

@rODIUMuk 4 года назад

Underrated comment

@TJ-vt6rt 4 года назад

@@rODIUMuk It certainly is a struggle being a musician without any contacts or real money to get your name out there. I've been trying for years and years but I still carry on cause I love music.

@2makemusicofficial 2 года назад

Thanks for the Video! Really interesting! What you think of artist investment? So let's say, there is a company that buys your master recording rights, pays you upfront without any debt, and if it's growing fast, you even get a piece of the cake. Does that make sense?

@3azy144 Год назад

So the cut off to owning your masters would be anything below 50%, correct? So for example, if I have 60% and the label has 40, do i still own my masters?

@RedragonReviews 10 месяцев назад

No because the label still has a percentage of it which they'll have the upper hand in using your music by any way they see fit, movies, commercials,etc and the label also would allow you to own any percentage of it. It's either buy your masters whole or the label continues owning it

@jamesmiddleton8335 Год назад

I've got to be honest, I think it's fair. From an industry standpoint, you want the labels to be making loads of money from their top artists because then they will take risks, risk means musical diversity, smaller artists getting big deals, labels signing more artists. It's generally good for the whole industry. From an artist perspective, a label can take you from essentially nothing to something, all of my favourite modern rock bands had their first release backed by either sony or warner brothers. Pretty much all of them, a couple have other smaller labels but are not as big as a result. A record label can make something like royal blood, take them from night club gigs in 2013 to a number 1 album, playing reading in 2015 and supporting the foo fighters, a label can make nothing but thieves, from doing a cover of the show must go on for RU-vid to releasing their first ep, first album and then supporting muse. I saw both of these bands in the o2 arena last year sold out, and supporting them were the amazons (universal) and yonaka (warner brothers), two up and coming rock bands on major label deals, I personally as an artist very often look at who releases my favourite up and coming band's records, if they are slightly bigger, it is one of the big three and has been since the start, if they're a bit smaller, they're still signed to one of the big 3, I personally can't see another way to grow as a rock band realistically without one of the big 3 in your corner, and by in your corner I mean trying to make money out of you, because if you play your cards right, them trying to take money will elevate your personal brand. Many people say that you don't need a label nowadays, but I'm yet to see a rock band truly prove this, a few artists from other genres have, but in terms of rock, it hasn't been proven as far as I'm aware.

@DavidProrok 4 года назад

Ok but what if your masters are worthless in perpetuity, wouldn’t it be better to have the money up front?

@DamianKeyes 4 года назад

David Prorok great point! Kanye wasn’t complaining when he got $10m advance

@xlnsmusic6744 4 года назад

Kanye making moves like this, and demonstrating it publicly, will make others braver in the future.

@kombe971 4 года назад

🧐The other issue is that before you could recoup your cost by selling 1 million PHYSICAL copies💰. Now because of Spotify labels own a percentage of Spotify knowing that they have also reduced how much artists receive per DIGITAL play. This now makes it almost impossible for artists like Kanye, Rihanna etc to recoup from recording costs🥺. The contracts are completely outdated because labels know artists can’t make the money back! Even worse when you’re in a boy band like Brockhampton, Britney Spears (who doesn’t write her biggest hits) etc. Those splits must be hard 😫😫😫

@iamDavidaRose 4 года назад

You would think Artist would learn from the mistakes of others because there is no way that Kanye would have been in this situation if he paid attention to TLC Prince ect. Even with a 5% royalty from Adidas is Low.

@Musicphilsgood 4 года назад

It's a trade off people it's not that shocking. You get the fame you own nothing. You own the masters you stay unknown, unplayable to their airwaves