CHAPTER ONE

Signing with a Record Label: Promise, and Purgatory

At the end of the day, the dream of being signed to a label -  of being “discovered” -  is just too great for too many people: to feel that you have been found, finally; the confirmation of that voice deep down inside saying you are, indeed, meant to be special. The allure of the dinners and parties in your honor; the glamour of being in the recording studio; and not least of all, the gratification and relief of being offered a huge cash advance. 

For many musicians, that amount of money, offered in a glitzy restaurant along with champagne promises of fame and stardom, is impossible to turn down. It’s only later they realize not everything is as it seems.

Those glamorous parties? You paid for them. The limos, the tours, the dinners, the producers - all of it comes out of the money they’ve promised you. Record labels will spend your money without your permission. You are paying for all of it. 

And don’t forget - you’ll need to pay your managers and your lawyers. If you have fellow band members, the contract money is for all of you, so you’ll be splitting it. Take away about 30% of what’s left for taxes, and that’s how much you get from your advance. 

And that is the amount you must live off of, until your record gets released - if it gets released at all.

You see, there’s no actual guarantee you’ll get to release music when you sign to a music label. A label wants hits. It wants songs that are radio ready. You have no say in the producers or songwriters you work with.  If the label doesn’t think your look or your sound will make them money, they won’t release your music. The label’s priority are the money-making artists. 

This stagnation can happen at any point in your contract. If you do get to release a record, and that record flops, the label won’t release any more of your music. 

Fine, you say. I’ll just release my own music. Except you can’t. You are contractually bound to the record label, which means they will own every song you write until that contract is fulfilled. And if the label won’t release any more of your albums, your contract is never fulfilled. You’re trapped.

I struggle to find the words to convey the perils of this situation: bleeding money, with no way to stop it, possibly heading towards ruin, debt, and even bankruptcy; no recourse when it comes to releasing more music, because you are stuck in your contract; and worst of all: you do not own your own musical creations. You, who were born to hear and create music; whose very soul has music within it;  you, with the gifts and talents worthy of bringing forth music from the ether into our very ears,  do not own the music you make. Is that not akin to losing a piece of your soul? 

Before you sign with a music label because you think it is the quickest and most promised road to riches and fame, just ask yourself: What does the devil ask you to do, in exchange for the same promise? 

He asks you to sign.

Think of how many ways music can be played today: over a loudspeaker at a restaurant or bar; in an elevator; as part of a movie, commercial, video game or tv show; You could perform it live. It can be downloaded, streamed, or played on a car radio - FM and/or via satellite.

Different methods of play generate different kinds of royalties. 

Different kinds of royalties go to different kinds of organizations. 

Like the lines connecting stars, defining the constellations, you must be the connecting factor between all these different methods and places of play, the agencies, and your bank account. You are the bridge between these islands. 

This is done by providing information about you and your song - information known as metadata.

Metadata can be a scary word, but if you stopped to think about it, you’d realize you already know more metadata about your song than you think. 

For example: you know the names of your songs, and who wrote them. You know who sang on them. You know the dates they were released. You know what genre they are, what key they are in (or you can find out), and their tempos. There are also codes that are assigned to you, and codes that are assigned to your music, when you sign up with collection agencies. All of this together is metadata. 

I want you to think of a bowling alley, and of those bumper guards that they put up for the little kids. Those bumper guards keep the ball from falling in the gutter. That’s exactly what metadata is. 

Metadata is the guard bumper to your royalties bowling ball, safely guiding it to the pins of your bank account.

It is the glow sticks guiding your aircraft, telling you where to park. 

Metadata is the way to tell the collection agencies that that song is yours, and the royalties they collect should go to you.

Metadata is the key to getting paid.

The Black Box

In the Arms of the Angel, written and sung by Sarah McLachlan, is well known from the sad ASPCA commercials showing abused dogs languishing in cages, being kept in chains in the snow, and looking up at you with wide, pleading eyes.

That’s exactly what’s happening to your unclaimed royalties. They are languishing in the Black Box, waiting for you to come take them home.

Black Box royalties (aka “unallocated royalties” or “unclaimed royalties”) are music-generated royalties whose owners haven’t collected them - either because they don’t know how, or don’t know they’re there in the first place. 

Let’s take a test. If you have music out there, playing, streaming, being downloaded, whatever … and you answer no to ANY of these … you have money in the Black Box. 

Are you registered with a distributor? 

Are you registered with a performing rights organization?

Are you registered with a publishing administrator?

Are you registered with SoundExchange (or a Neighbouring Rights Organization outside the US)? 

(US only) Are you registered with the Mechanical Licensing Collective? 

It’s ok if you said no to all or some or one! It means you have money out there, waiting for you! 

And I’m not talking chump change. 

Unclaimed black box royalties cost musicians hundred of millions of dollars. 

At any given moment in time, there are upwards of $250 MILLION dollars in royalties, waiting to go home to their rightful owners. 

BUT … 

If enough years pass without you coming to get your money, then it’s paid out to the biggest earners in the industry - meaning, the super stars. That’s right - your royalty money will be paid to huge celebrities like Taylor Swift or Blake Shelton.

Proper use of metadata is the only way to keep your royalties from falling into the Black Box.