223 2 Albums

"So, do we have contract discussions now, or...wait?"

Ahmet's conversation rhythm is always elusive. No matter what Ronan said, he can always return to his own track quietly, and make others not notice Ahmet's emotions and attitudes at all. Maintaining a gentle and gentle posture throughout the whole process makes it impossible to start.

But Alice is only dealing with Ahmet for the second time, but she seems to have figured out a little way, and smiled at Ahmet, "I can feel the initiative of your company now, I think, This should be a good thing, so, can I look forward to the contract?"

Originally, when Ahmet said those words, Cliff could still feel the slight tension in the air, worrying that they had angered Ahmet; now, after Alice's words were spoken, the subtle atmosphere It became light again, and the smile between the brows also flowed out.

In this room, Ahmet is still smiling, without any special mood swings, and no movement can be seen, but he continued following Alice's words, "The main part of the contract is, two albums in three years, all We're in charge of distribution, and we'd like to see more from the band."

The contract requires a long and detailed reading by a lawyer. The detailed discussion is definitely not something that the band or Alice can complete, and of course it is not something that Ahmet can do. Professional issues still need to be completed by professionals. Now they need to negotiate. critical parts on paper.

For example, the terms mentioned by Ahmet are also the core of the entire contract, two albums in three years, which means literally: a certain amount of work in a certain period of time.

Yesterday, when Ahmet and Alice were talking on the phone, he proposed a long-term contract proposal to sign five albums, but Alice rejected such an unfair proposal that was almost a sell-off.

The reason is simple, for a label, if the band doesn't make it, then they let the contract collect dust in the drawer; but for the band, once it fails, they will be tied to Atlantic Records, unless It is to fulfill the contract of completing the five albums, otherwise, you cannot sign with other record companies——

If another record company is willing to pay liquidated damages, that's a different story.

There is also a small branch detail involved here. Why did Atlantic Records fail, and there are other record companies willing to sign newcomer bands?

In fact, Bruno Mars is the best example. Once, when he was at Motown Records, Bruno was positioned as a producer hidden behind the scenes, and his music style didn’t fit, so he was buried; after coming to Atlantic Records, Bruno finally met the right producer, so he started hands and feet.

The same goes for other rookie bands.

"Two albums in three years", this is the quantity, but there are also regulations on quality in the terms, and the details can be specific to the genre, shape, style and so on.

For example, if Atlantic Records positioned the One Day King as an idol band like Scooter Braun did at the time, then Ronan and others would have no chance of resisting, and they might have to be manipulated like dolls for two albums, To be able to escape hell - imagine not two albums, but five albums.

Then changing the record company may open up another world.

Obviously, long-term contracts are more disadvantages than advantages for rookie bands.

Record companies often want to sign long-term contracts, tie up potential newcomers with low prices, and then continue to squeeze out their residual value.

So why did Ahmet agree to Alice's bargain? Atlantic Records, which has the absolute upper hand, can completely ignore Alice's protest, throw out a contract, and then tell the band "I like to sign it or not". The fundamental reason is that the long-term contract is not perfect.

First of all, a long-term contract means that the signing bonus needs to be increased accordingly.

Take Mariah Carey, for example.

The queen singer signed a huge contract with Virgin Records in April 2001, which shocked the world.

This non-guaranteed contract is worth 100 million U.S. dollars for five albums, which is equivalent to buying out Maria's next five albums. On average, each album can bring Maria 20 million U.S. dollars in revenue. , which means no follow-up income.

As a result, only eight months later, Virgin Records experienced drastic personnel changes, and they also realized how unfavorable such a contract was to them, because Maria's first record with Virgin Records suffered from Waterloo, so the strong man broke his wrist and took the initiative. The contract was terminated and Maria was compensated for 28 million dollars in damages.

Ultimately, the contract cost Virgin more than $50 million.

A long-term contract not only means that the record company's signing fee needs to be increased, even for new singers, but also means that the record company needs to advance costs, which brings us to the second point.

Secondly, a long-term contract means "in order to win long-term benefits, you have to invest a lot in the early stage and wait until the return bonus comes."

The contract signing bonus can be divided into two parts, one part is the return after fulfilling the contract obligations, for example, Maria earns 20 million US dollars per album; Of course, for newcomers, this income is often not high.

Regarding the "signature bonus", record companies often hope that singers can make full use of this bonus as living expenses and homework expenses during the creative period, but the reality is that young people buy luxury cars directly after receiving a sum of money Or a party splurge that's gone in the blink of an eye.

In order to ensure that new singers can become "cash cows" and continue to create value at a profit, record companies need to pay a lot of upfront training costs, starting with living expenses, recording studios, album production costs, and shooting music videos , the cost of releasing the album and putting the goods on the shelves, etc., these are all expenses.

For newcomers, according to the contract, these production costs are all based on a certain percentage. The record company and the singer will jointly pay. Record labels have to keep paying up front before they start making money.

It is precisely because of this that the record company must stipulate in the contract, the time, quantity, quality and other related details, otherwise they will cultivate a group of free-living, and lose everything.

The five-album long-term contract is also very burdensome for Atlantic Records. Ahmet’s compromise was not entirely due to Alice’s argument. Today’s interview with Curtis should also play an important role. Therefore, Ahmet formally proposed the signing terms of the contract.