Advancing an act money is a risk the label endures as it does not know how well the act's album will sell. Our step-by-step interview process makes creating a printable Recording Agreement easy. Split with the decision to remain with the label that made her famous, or sign a deal with a company that was willing to pay her what she felt she was worth, she ultimately signed with RCA. You can also specify terms of payment so that you're compensated fairly.If you're a record label, you can use the Recording Agreement to get your obligations to clients in black and white. The album spawned three US hits (a #1 and two top tens) and sold 10 million copies worldwide. Record companies will generally increase royalty rates or give artistic freedom to get acts to re-sign contracts with them once the original deal has been fulfilled. In Utah, Rocket Lawyer is a nonlawyer-owned company authorized to provide legal services, including the practice of law, by the Utah Supreme Court; further information regarding this authorization can be found here. Let us help you incorporate your business. Recording artists signed to a failed label can find themselves in limbo, unable to record for anyone but a company that is out of business (and thus cannot sell or distribute their records), and with their existing works unavailable for sale. Call us Monday-Friday 6am-6pm PT. Your document is free within your one week membership trial. She had signed with RCA for North America only, she signed a separate longterm contract with Capitol/EMI for international territories. For the term of this Agreement, Artist agrees to appear at one or more performances to promote the distribution of the Recording. When RCA Records offered her $20 million to sign with them, Ross gave Motown the chance to match the deal, or at least offer something almost comparable. Recording contracts may include opt-out clauses for the label in the event an act's popularity dips or the act releases non-hit albums under the deal. 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. Whether you're a fledgling act, an experienced recording artist or a record label looking for both, a Recording Agreement ensures that music is the only noise your partnership makes. Record companies put forth huge sums of money to produce, release, and promote an album. (Occasionally these are purchased by the artists themselves.). That contractual amount was never officially released. (877) 881-0947 The Mamas & 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 -which became 1971's People Like Us. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Recording_contract&oldid=976500778, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 September 2020, at 08:40. As a group or solo act, you give a company exclusive rights to record, promote, license and sell your music, and the Recording Agreement ensures your rights are protected in return. Robbie Williams signed an £80m (US$125m) contract with EMI. Recording Agreement basics Whether you're a fledgling act, an experienced recording artist or a record label looking for both, a Recording Agreement ensures that music is the only noise your partnership makes. Labels typically own the copyright in the records their artists make, and also the master copies of those records. Recording time, manufacturing, packaging, photos, distribution, marketing, and music videos are just some of the areas where the label must spend money on an act it has signed. The reason is usually that one party expects too much money, or too large a percentage of profits, to suit the other. Once (and if) the advance has been paid back from record sales, the artist then begins to see royalty payments for additional sales. Copyright Rocket Lawyer Incorporated. Summer then went back to recording for Geffen Records for her next project. You are a recording company seeking the exclusive right to record, promote, license and sell an artist's music. More than just a template, our step-by-step interview process makes it easy to create a Recording Agreement.Save, sign, print, and download your document when you are done. Rocket Lawyer provides information and software only through this website; Rocket Lawyer is not a "lawyer referral service" and does not provide legal advice or participate in any legal representation; Rocket Lawyer is not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. Users that create Recording Agreement sometimes need additional documents. However, it is believed to be as much as $20 more million and she has remained currently signed with them for over 30 years and has produced many more successful recordings internationally including her multi-platinum 1991 release, The Force Behind the Power and an even greater success with a greatest hits compilation, One Woman: The Ultimate Collection that sold over 1.5 million in the United Kingdom alone, spending several weeks at #1. (Labels may also stop distribution as a punitive measure, if an artist fails to comply with their contract, or as a strategic measure if negotiations for a new one prove difficult.) 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. This often benefits recording artists, but not always. When one label "buys out" another (or a label is purchased by an outside party), any existing copyrights and contracts held (and masters, if owned by the label) normally go with the sale. A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or 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. You can use it to outline your expectations and detail the type of exposure and resources you want dedicated to your music. She continued to tour partly to pay Capitol back for her 1960s deal, and a string of hits in the mid-1970s allowed her to finally clear the debt. Distribution deals are often renewed, but occasionally the label and the copyright owner cannot come to terms for a renewal. The label usually absorbs these expenses, but in some artists' contracts, some of this money may be due back to the label, unless otherwise worded. Other names for this document: Record Contract, Recording Studio Agreement, Recording Artist Contract. Record labels can also become bankrupt like any business, and their masters and copyrights sold or traded as part of their assets. For instance, Mariah Carey was dropped by Virgin Records and her $100 million recording deal cancelled after her first album released by the label sold poorly.[2]. Donna Summer signed a new deal with Geffen Records in 1980, and released an album on Geffen. "Walking out" on a deal is very difficult or nearly impossible, as is attempting to strike a new deal without completing an old one. She recorded and delivered an album to Polygram that the label released, and it became a hit. A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or 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.