Sounds like a obvious question but I’m ask regardless:

It seems like so much music artist end up with s***ty deals with labels. Is that just the nature of the game/working with labels? Are a lot of these bad deals preventable?

Do a lot of artist just not pay enough attention when they’re getting signed? Maybe seeing guaranteed profit makes them sign without too much negotiation?

You're a broke kid who just went viral on Tik Tok.

Some guys from a label you've heard of offer you money up front.

"Wow, damn I'm rich"

Sign away your soul for 50k.

i think everyone is getting f***ed over or at least was before they really got some leverage and were able to re negotiate. aside from exceptions like jay z who came up independently.
even MJ was in a s*** deal and he knew it.

but who would willingly give a good deal to an artist who's grateful to get the s***ty one? it's the nature of business.

i would say that people should be more aware but think about people who in your eyes have a good deal and think about how many of those there really even are. bad deals are the norm

they are young and dumb and any money is good for them

It’s probably hard to turn down at the time of the offer especially if your life isn’t the best and you’re offered a way out with money up front.

Not to mention a lot of people get signed to other rappers/personalities these days. You spend a weekend with Birdman after living like a broke teenager. See what happens.

people be scared of whatll happen if they don't take it. lot of it is straight not knowing any better

It’s due to the unpredictability of an artist’s career. Being offered an advance as a relatively unknown artist (like many artists are when they sign) at the beginning you actually come out in front.

If you’re actually successful as an artist though, there reaches a point where your music is more profitable than that advance you were given. Once that’s the case, you immediately want to get out the deal and it becomes a “bad” one.

The problem is deals are long as f*** in most cases and artists take the shorter road, at a time when the longer road might not seem realistic, only to wish they could’ve gone back to the long road

idk if i wanna see what happens in that particular example

the best long term deals give the least short term benefits and don't even get offered unless you already big or currently blowing up. except by small businesses and local labels who really probably don't have much more to offer you than you could do by yourself

Yeah. Birdman is coming for a lot more than your live performance money.

can you bring back the vid you originally linked?

On average how much do these labels that scout new artists before they blow sign them for ?

Imagine your momma crying about the food in the cabinet and the bills she's overdue on paying and some rich snake offers your rights away for an upfront that'll sit mom in a mansion.
I can understand why some of these artists sign these s*** deals.

Theres a hundred reasons as to why

But it also simply doesnt make sense for the labels to offer an unknown teenager a ton of money

This + until you just ask for something different most research will tell you that getting f***ed is commonplace

And most people are broke and think they don't have much leverage which they kinda don't because most artists complaining about this aren't 1 in a Million artists who a record label would really feel like they missed if they passed on you for outrageous demands

and even the 1 in a million artists like Wayne and Pac get f***ed

Same reason why student debt is a national crisis. You don't know any better

Damn, hard truth

Artist these days have no leverage,the social media era is the best thing to happen to record labels in a long time. Also,nobody’s getting a good deal cause everyone’s cookie cutter.

They intentionally use confusing words in the contract so that the artists have no idea what they’re actually signing. There could be hidden clauses n s*** that they won’t know about.

I’d rather have a horrible deal than be a permanent resident of the graveyard called CS (better known as “Creative Showcase” or, sometimes, “Creative Section”) while getting frustrated and calling myself “Retired Artist” as a result, after my final single goes triple plastic bottle

/s