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  • safe 🪩
    Sep 16, 2020

    first off lemme say that this s*** is complicated as f*** and im not a lawyer. however here is some stuff I could glean from the contracts that people might find interesting. feel free to ask me stuff but no guarantees I can help

    Overall

    • From what I can tell the deal was structured to give UMG options to extend the contract multiple times. Of course because of Kanye's success they picked to exercise these options

    • There's a letter in their from Rock the World and because its only partial I cant read too much into details. But it's essentially demanding royalty rates of 85%-100% for the different contract periods with the rest of the royalties going to RTW. The issue is I dont know what the contract periods represent. If it is indeed albums Kanye wanted 80% for CD, LR, Grad and 808s, 85% for MBDTF, Yeezus and TLOP and 100% for anything post TLOP. This letter was not signed by Island Def Jam

    College Dropout and Onwards

    • Its hard to tell what options were exercised but Roc-A-Fella appear to own his masters for whatever number of albums took place on the initial contact - at least two, as many as 7

    • He didnt give up any merchandising rights (i.e. not a 360)

    • royalty rate of 14% with sales targets pushing it to a possible 19% for late registration and possibly beyond

    GOOD Music

    • Kanye has creative control for all intents and purposes

    • Kanye signed the deal in 2011. this was for 3 contract years - however any year that he did not deliver TWO albums from GOOD would be suspended until he delivered 2 albums

    • Year 1 got waived for not having two albums

    • the contract was extended in 2012 and 2016

    • If an artist he brings to Island Def Jam that he wants to sign to GOOD is rejected, he must offer that artist to other Universal labels first

    • Kanye has control over contracts subject to a minimum level stipulated by UMG

    • GOOD keeps 50% of profits after recoupment of advances

    Cruel Summer

    • The Cruel Summer film ended up with a budget of at least $5.7m
    • Because of costs associated with the Hawaii recordings and Cruel Summer recordings, Kanye had to pay 100% of Cruel Summer profits to the label until the costs were recouped
    • This also may be why Cruel Winter was cancelled. The agreement says if Cruel Winter releases, the label will also take 100% of profits until costs are recouped

    Yeezus

    • The initial Yeezus budget on the label side was $12m
    • Royalty rate was 22% again after recoupment of advances

    Swish/TLOP

    • was expected by the label by 2015
    • royalty rate of 22%
    • a later document says the label will also pay 50% of profits for yeezus and tlop. these are technically different things. royalties are based on net revenue whereas profit is revenue minus costs.
    • Kanye gets the masters for Yeezus and TLOP 20 years after the release date. if the advancement isn't recouped he has to pay the difference to get the masters

    WTT

    • the budget was $2.5m of which $1m would be paid after delivery. this was an advance and thus recouped from royalties
    • label owns the master
    • the royalty return for Kanye was just 15% and that is after recoupment of the advance

    Ye and JiK

    • Here Kanye owns the master but has licensed it to Island Def Jam for 7 years
    • Royalty rate is 25% in the US and 16% elsewhere again subject to advance recoupment
    • Kanye potentially wanted to sell 'super deluxe versions' of the album exclusively through his online store
  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    1 reply

    I knew safe would come through!!

    Gonna read now

  • Sep 16, 2020

    honestly wasn't going to look through all of that myself and was waiting for someone else to post a recap thanks op

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    1 reply

    king s***

  • never been more in

  • bMass28 🤰🏻
    Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    6 replies

    i love safe

  • Sep 16, 2020
    bMass28

    i love safe

  • Sep 16, 2020

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    2 replies
    bMass28

    i love safe

    definitely in my top 50 posters

  • Sep 16, 2020

    in on a safe thread

  • MORENAA 💜
    Sep 16, 2020

    If it’s a Safe thread, we learning the truth 🤓

    Unlike some posters on here telling lies

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    4 replies

    Kanye gets the masters of yeezus and tlop 20 years after release

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    2 replies

    So what’s he so upset about?

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    3 replies

    Has his contract been leaked? Where is it need to see this s***

  • Sep 16, 2020

    Thank you safe

  • safe 🪩
    OP
    Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    2 replies
    Weekend KaTeezy

    I knew safe would come through!!

    Gonna read now

    its honestly not that much
    theres a ton of stuff in there thats just incredibly bland specifications about what he can and cant do
    im sure theres some interesting stuff I missed but the gist is that he has very little ownership

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    2 replies
    Ooo

    So what’s he so upset about?

    You’re such a bad poster

  • safe 🪩
    OP
    Sep 16, 2020
    the reds

    Has his contract been leaked? Where is it need to see this s***

    he tweeted it all out

    here's the collation I used
    drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wE-EqKRerCctKmSLOqpOpFhBzEpWi7mn

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    1 reply
    the reds

    Has his contract been leaked? Where is it need to see this s***

    he leaked himself it page by page in like 100 tweets lmao

  • Sep 16, 2020
    YANDHI

    he leaked himself it page by page in like 100 tweets lmao

    Phone was jumpin at work today 😂😂😂😂😂

  • Sep 16, 2020
    the reds

    Has his contract been leaked? Where is it need to see this s***

  • Sep 16, 2020
    bMass28

    i love safe

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    2 replies
    safe

    its honestly not that much
    theres a ton of stuff in there thats just incredibly bland specifications about what he can and cant do
    im sure theres some interesting stuff I missed but the gist is that he has very little ownership

    I didn’t expect the budgets to be that high

    12 million for Yeezus and 5.7 million for Cruel Summer film (didn’t even release)

  • Sep 16, 2020
    ·
    4 replies

    Thanks OP.

    GOOD keeps 50% of profits after recoupment of advances

    So they kick 50% after recoupment up the ladder. I presume Kanye/GOOD keep some. So what are his signees looking at? Has Kanye practiced what he's preaching?

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