Re: Record Contracts?

In talking with bassist/laywer/van driver Steve Valentine after the NYC show he mentioned that he was attempting to retrieve the Butchers rights to his early stuff from their current owners who are having some financial problems. They don't want to appear 'too interested' since it will no doubtably drive the price up. This is another instance when I told Steve that people on the list would be glad to contribute to a fund to help Butch get back what is rightfully his. I'd rather send the 50-100$ to pat rather than have to spend it on E-bay trying to obtain the older stuff.

Brent Aliverti wrote:

> All this talk has me wondering how recording contracts normally work. I
> already know that in typical situations, the artist receives an advance from
> the label to make the album. Once the album is available for sale, the label
> needs to recoup the cost of the advance and any other associated costs
> (videos, promos) before the artist start receiving royalties. These
> contracts are often notoriously slanted in favor of the label...so much so
> that even seemingly successful acts like XTC had a hard time making a living
> while being signed to a major (Virgin, in this case).
>
> But what happens if the label decides to let the album go out-of-print? Or
> if the label goes bankrupt? I've already ascertained that the rights don't
> necessarily automatically revert back to the artist, but what DOES happen
> with the rights? It's just hard to believe that some of this great music
> remains out of print for such a long period of time.
>
> Regards, Brent
Received on Thu Oct 14 12:41:03 1999